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THE national Under-23 team’s quest for the gold medal at the on-going All Africa Games’ football event will get a stern test from their Burkinabe counterparts today. The team had experienced series of success in the course of the event and their progress will be given a real test as they seek to progress to the next stage of the event.

Victory over Burkinabes will prove to be crucial as it determines how the Nigerian team would end up in this competition. Some analysts are however of the opinion that the Burkinabe team do not have what it takes to oust the Nigerian team.

Nigeria needed a victory over Senegal to qualify for the next stage of the competition. The Senegalese coach had however insisted that Nigeria's victory was a matter of luck and nothing more. He insisted that Nigeria would not be as lucky when the teams clash again. The Senegalese coach insisted that his boys played far better than the Nigerian team and they deserved victory. He said they would have gotten the well deserved victory, but for luck that did not smile on them.

It is the semifinal of the competition, which will see the lucky Francophone West African country pitching their wits against one of the favourites for the gold medal. In actual fact, Nigeria is among the favourite countries to win gold. But the burkinabe team has also proved themselves worthy of the slot for gold considering their resounding performance so far in the competition. Things are so tight in the competition that many analysts now find it rather difficult to tag any particular team as the possible gold winner. However, things will get clearer in the days to come as Nigeria seeks a win over the Burkinabe team today.

Burkina Faso reached the semifinal after emerging the lucky side in a drawing of lots with Sudan yesterday. Both sides had scored and conceded two goals in their first two Group A games, before playing to a goalless draw in their final tie on Sunday, thus finishing level on four points apiece and the same goals difference in the group won by Congo.

So, the only way to separate them was by drawing of lots, which saw the Sudanese losing out in a cruel fashion. Meanwhile, Olympic Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia, believes Nigeria will qualify for the Rio 2016 games despite drawing Egypt, Algeria and Mali in the African U-23 Championships’ draw held in Cairo yesterday.

Nigeria is in Group B, while South Africa, hosts Senegal, Zambia and Tunisia are in Group A.

The group winners and runners up would advance to the semifinals, where winners would qualify for the Rio Olympic Games, while the losing semifinalists would play off to fill the third and last place reserved for Africa at a tournament.

Nigeria beat Congo to reach Senegal, while Egypt defeated Uganda. Algeria overcame Sierra Leone and Mali were too strong for Mauritania and 2012 London Olympics qualifiers, Gabon.

The competition will hold from November 28 to December 12 in Dakar and Mbour, Senegal