It was a tale of two penalties at Stade Leopold Sedar in Dakar as Senegal missed a first-half spot-kick before Nigeria took theirs in the second half.
Peter Etebo was the man who kept his nerve from the spot for Nigeria in the 77th minute after an awful mix-up between Senegal goalkeeper and defender, when Ousseynou Thioune dived to handle the ball in the box under pressure.
Senegal also had Thioune sent off as Nigeria went 1-0 up.
Nigeria goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel had earlier saved a penalty from Senegal striker Ibrahima Keita just before half-time to keep the scores level heading into the break.
The Dream Team is therefore the first to qualify for the Olympics next year and they await the winner of the other semi-final tonight between South Africa and Algeria in Saturday’s Final.