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On-song Chile dump holders Nigeria out
MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept 23 (AFP) - Chile stormed into the semi-finals of the Olympic men's football tournament, trouncing defending champions Nigeria 4-1 here Saturday. Rodrigo Tello played a starring-role as the South Americans wrapped up the game with a three-goal blitz before the interval to set up a date in the last four with Cameroon. Tello set up two goals and grabbed the fourth for himself sending the huge Chilean contigent in the 44,425 crowd wild. In the 17th minute his free-kick from the left-wing was met with a deft header by Pablo Contreras to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later the lead was doubled and Tello was again the provdider. The 20-year-old crossed from the left and Ivan Zamorano took advantage of hesitation by Nigerian goalkeeper Gregg Etafia to fire home his fourth goal of the competition from close-range. Just before half-time Chile sealed the game. Zamorano headed a long ball from goalkeeper Nelson Tapia on and Reinaldo Navia coolly the lobbed the ball over the stranded Etafia. Chile continued to dominate after the break and Tello grabbed his reward after 65 minutes, his low left-footed drive making it 4-0. Victor Agali netted a consolation for the Super Eagles with 14 minutes remaining but there was precious little else for their colourful supporters to cheer. "We should take some credit - we were truly superior to Nigeria," said Chilean coach Nelson Acosta. He paid tribute to man-of-the-match Tello. "Tello has always been a main player for us. He only missed the earlier games through injury," he said.
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