While the bronze medal match of the 2016 Olympics men’s soccer tournament may not have the star power or the glory that the gold medal game will hold, what Honduras and Nigeria do bring us is an absolutely fascinating matchup in terms of how these two teams compare on the pitch.
Honduras vs. Nigeria 2016 live stream: How to watch men’s soccer bronze medal game online
The bronze medal match might be one of the more tactically fascinating matches of the entire men’s Olympics tournament.
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Neither team has quite taken the approach that most would have expected them to coming in. Honduras found success not by bunkering deep to prevent goals, but by using clever positioning and marking to screen their defense while setting up quick, overlapping counterattacking runs. Nigeria has been much more defensive than one might have expected, overcoming numerous injury absences in attack by playing a deep possession game and being opportunistic with their scoring chances.
Neither team has been perfect, obviously. Honduras struggled to score goals and their defense got blasted by Brazil in the semifinal. Nigeria shipped four goals to Japan in their opener before pulling into a more defensive look, but even then they just couldn’t keep up with Germany on tactical or physical levels. How they overcome those setbacks in their last chance to medal in the tournament will determine the winner, and should make for a fun game.
To watch this match online in the U.S. you can stream it live on NBCOlympics.com. In Honduras, the match will be streamed on Fox Play Latin America, and while it won’t be shown in Nigeria, you can find listings for other countries on LiveSoccerTV.
TV: NBCSN (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish), Claro Sports (Honduras)
Match date/time: Saturday, Noon ET, 1 p.m. local
Venue: Estadio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
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