Nigeria thrive in chaos to overcome Japan in Olympic opener

The Dream Team conquered a mountain of challenges to see off the Asian champions and begin Rio 2016 on a winning note.

Now, we know the perfect ingredients for synthesizing anarchy. That's what you get when two teams with no regard for the concept of defending stand across the centre circle from each other in sweltering humidity. Of course, it helps if one of the two teams in question is a Nigerian one, and even more so if it is coached by Samson Siasia.

Heath Ledger's Joker proclaimed himself an agent of chaos, and there was a generous concession to slapstick here, as Nigeria's U-23 football team arrived barely in time to throw on their virgin Nike costumes and waddle onto the Amazonian green of Manaus.

 Japan, with their decorous professionalism and deference to conventional behavior, stood no chance the moment they let the anarchy of the African champions seize the mood. In that is the biggest failure of the Japanese: that, against a team beset by jet lag and uncertainty, the Samurai Blue were unable to impose their own game. It started well enough in the opening minutes, with the Asians quicker into a rhythm, but Sadiq Umar's early opening goal torpedoed whatever designs there were on patient build-up and domination through possession. Clearly, the decision by coach Makoto Teguramori to drop a striker for a controlling presence at the back of midfield was with a view to control the ball and make Nigeria work.

Having to come back into the game twice inside the first 12 minutes clearly wasn't a part of that plan, and following a madcap opening, both teams seemed to stop in their tracks and take stock. Only then was it clear where and what everyone was doing. Not that that clarity made it any more credulous: the defensive midfielder formerly known as John Obi Mikel was stationed high up, almost playing off the lolloping Umar, while the bullish Oghenekaro Etebo was nominally on the left, from whence he carried out a remarkable display of goalscoring, netting four times.

There were consequently obvious problems in possession, as both the usually impressive Azubuike Okechukwu and Usman Mohammed struggled to advance the play intelligently or switch the ball quickly out wide, where the impressive Imoh Ezekiel held sway.

Positionally, both had extremely poor games, and their distribution also left a lot to be desired. Instead, the team relied heavily on the link up of Roma's Umar, whose noodly appearance masks a wicked turn of pace and implacable strength. His knockdowns in central areas were often wasted though; captain Mikel is barely even a playmaker these days anyway, let alone a support striker. That didn't matter though - chaos was this team's trequartista.

The manner of the goals was instructive. First, Ezekiel's daisycutter was palmed into the path of Umar; then a flighted ball from deep was misjudged and Etebo slammed home; third resulted from a pass down the line, fourth and fifth from turnovers following lapses in Japanese concentration.

Who needs a no. 10 when the opposition defence cannot seem to use their number 6? The scoreline would suggest this was not a malaise peculiar to the Samurai Blue, however. Then again, you know what you're getting when Siasia sits in your dugout: this team only kept one clean sheet en route to winning the U-23 Afcon—it is wedded to defensive naivety. Sometimes, you win by being, not so much better than your opponent, but by being less awful. Nigeria won simply by being more comfortable in its own awfulness than Japan.

Make no mistake: under the circumstances, this counts as a truly remarkable result, if not a remarkable all-round performance. However, in Sweden and Colombia, there is tougher to come, and there are glaring deficiencies to address.
One simply cannot go into every game hoping to win 5-4.