Nigeria beat Japan 5-4 on Friday and crushed Sweden 1-0 on Sunday to fit the bill for the quarterfinals of the Under-23 competition. The group face Colombia on Wednesday.
Lawal told our journalist that the national had demonstrated that they could achieve the last of the opposition.
"The group has been doing fabulously well and they have demonstrated the genuine soul of champions and I trust they can go the distance," the previous Super Eagles midfielder told our journalist on the phone on Monday.
"From a late entry to the Games to beating Japan 5-4 and now beating a decent and strategic Sweden side 1-0 to fit the bill for the quarterfinals is a decent show from them. They are useful for gold.
"In any case, they ought not lay on their shrubs now that they have achieved the knockout stages. They have to keep the energy going and always remember that their objective is the last. They can rehash what we did in 1996 on the grounds that the weight is not all that much on them. They ought not welcome it to themselves by any stretch of the imagination. They ought to deal with their frail ranges and ensure that they consider every diversion important."
Garba, nonetheless, trusts that the group has no emerge player yet as they all are playing for each other's prosperity.
He said, "It is difficult to say this is the player who is doing admirably now. On the off chance that you take a gander at the first and second matches, the players who shone in every match were distinctive yet I think they ought to stress more on collaboration as that is the thing that will help them win the gold. Football is a group activity."
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