Samson Siasia: Dream Team coach warns players of complacency ahead of clash

The Nigeria U-23 team, Dream Team, failed to earn a straight semi final place, following a 2-2 draw with Junior Pharaohs of Egypt at the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Senegal on Wednesday.

It was the second successive Group B match in which the Nigerians suffered a second-half defensive meltdown after hanging on for a 3-2 win over Mali last Sunday having led by three goals at half-time.

Coach of the Nigerian Dream Team VI Samson Siasia has warned his players of complacency ahead of their second group game against Egypt.

They dominated and Nigeria merely survived being beaten.

Nigeria had in the first half scored two goals through penalty kicks.

Nigeria had desperately hoped to avoid leaving their qualification to the next round to calculations but the most secured path to the next round is a win against Algeria – perchance Egypt defeat Mali.

The first goal came by a penalty wrongly awarded to Nigeria at the 19th minute of the match which was carefully converted by Etebo Oghenekaro.

Egypt came on with all guns blazing in the second half, narrowing the gap just two minutes after the restart with a firm header from Ahly playmaker Sobhi after a neat left-wing cross from Mohamed Hamdi.

Nigeria are tied with 4 points with Algeria, while Egypt have two points and Mali, with no point in two matches, have crashed out of the tournament.

Both sides created several goal-scoring opportunities in an end-to-end second period but were let down by some poor finishing.