Fresh off its quarterfinal win over Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria is confident that it can recapture the Olympic men's soccer title it won in 1996, Local media reported on Monday.

"Everyone's buzzing, they (the players) don't think we can get beat by anyone," striker Victor Anichebe said Sunday. "It's a bit dangerous, but I'm confident."

Nigeria beat Japan and the United States and drew with the Netherlands to win Group B, before downing Ivory Coast 2-0 on Saturday to advance to its first semifinal since the country won gold in men's soccer at the Atlanta Games.

"We are really provoked and motivated to bring home that gold," striker Peter Odemwingie said. "We are not far from it - two games more - and hopefully we can do it."

Nigeria became the first African nation to win the Olympic title in soccer in 1996 with a supremely talented squad headlined by the likes of Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Taribo West.

Odemwingie, who scored Nigeria's opening goal on Saturday, said the team's triumph has served as a powerful source of inspiration.

"The 1996 Olympics was such a big event for Nigeria," said Odemwingie, who was 15 at the time. "I watched those games like 10 times, even after the tournament ... I had recordings of them, and used to play them often," he added. "I don't believe that actually myself I am so close to it. If I get that medal, I don't know how I'll feel, but definitely it is going to be a great feeling."

As the sole African team still playing in China, the Nigerians acknowledge they carry not only the weight of their country's expectations, but those of the rest of Africa as well.

"I wouldn't say there's pressure, but there's hope," Anichebe said. "There's hope from our country and other African countries hoping that we can go and make Africa proud.

"Even when we beat the Ivory Coast, they were saying 'Good luck' to us, hoping that we can go on and win this," he said. "It would be nice if an African team can win it, but there are other teams in this tournament, South Americans as well, so it's going to be tough, really tough."

Up first for Nigeria is a resilient Belgium side that rallied to beat Italy 3-2 in the quarterfinals despite playing a man down for more than 70 minutes. The Nigerians watched much of that match on television before their own clash with Cote d'Ivoire. Anichebe, Odemwingie and their teammates came away impressed, but have no intention of letting down now.

"We've worked really hard the past couple of years to qualify for this, and to finally get here, to finally get to the semifinal, it would be really disappointing to go home with nothing," Anichebe said. "I'm sure that if we go into the (Belgium) game with the right attitude, we'll get the right result in the end."

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)