Will the Super Eagles progress beyond the Group phase?

Ahmed Musa celebrating one of his goals in the Group D game against Iceland at the Volgograd Arena. Courtesy – FIFA and Getty Images

Prior to the World Cup, the enthusiasm within the team’s camp and preparation were excellent except results from warm up games en-route the Mundial. Nigeria’s jersey stood out as the most attractive and most sought after in the market when Nike put it out on sale, the attire worn by the team to the World Cup was arguably the best showing Africa rich panache. Nigeria arrived at the global fiesta in style carrying the hopes of its entire continent with arguably the youngest squad at the tournament. Perhaps it was nerves and weight of expectation that caught up with the team in Kaliningrad, the Super Eagles lost the opening game against Croatia in the Group D (death) two nil and it came crashing down. With two games left to play including one against old nemesis – Argentina, the honeymoon period for the Nigerian team was over. The immediate reaction and analysis of the loss was overboard. A soccer loving nation of over 180 million saw everyone giving different perspective to what might have been in hindsight. Nigeria sat bottom of the group with no point and no goal.

The game against Iceland automatically became a final for Nigeria just like several other nations who lost their opening game. The Super Eagles could not afford a second defeat which would automatically end their World Cup campaign after just two games. Coach Gernot Rohr rung the changes in system and personnel switching from a 4-3-3 system to a 3-5-2 which gave more protection to the defence and allowed some players operate in their natural habitat. Captain John Mikel Obi played a deeper role in the midfield where his lack of mobility wasn’t a liability and with his intelligence, he picked passes from deep. Alongside Wilfred Ndidi, they broke Iceland’s play in the midfield and gave wing backs Bryan Idowu and Victor Moses license to surge forward at will. Nigeria dominated the first half in terms of possession but lacked the cutting edge with no effort on target after 45 minutes. Without goals, the Super Eagles might book their return ticket back to Abuja or Lagos for June 28; after the break, we saw urgency from the team and the transition play looked effective. Ahmed Musa scored two well taken goals as Nigeria swept aside Iceland in this second group game with one round of games to go. The second half was action packed including a missed penalty by Iceland. A Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review which has been one of the shining take-away from this tournament was required by Matthew Conger before awarding the penalty but Gylfi Sigurdsson fired over the cross bar from the spot.

Courtesy – FIFA.com

This result opens up Group D with all three teams behind Croatia still in with a chance of progressing to the Round of 16. It is time for variations permutation and combination. Nigeria needs at least a draw against Argentina to secure second spot in the group as long as Iceland do not beat group leaders Croatia by a three goal margin. For Argentina, only a victory against Nigeria can ensure passage to the next round with the hope that group leader Croatia do not lose their final game. For debutant Iceland, their task of qualifying from the group got harder after yesterday’s defeat. They need a victory against Croatia who are yet to concede and have scored five against Nigeria and Argentina to stand a chance. After two rounds of matches, Group D intriguingly poised as we head into the final match-day on June 26.

Nigeria take on Argentina at 19.00hrs Tuesday 26 June 2018 in Saint Petersburg. View Game & Bet

Iceland final group game is against Croatia at 19.00hrs Tuesday 26 June 2018 in Rostov-on-Don. View Game & Bet

DID YOU KNOW?
• Nigeria’s goalkeeper Francis Uzoho is the second youngest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup match (19 years, 237 days), behind only Li Chan-myong in North Korea’s 1-0 win over Italy in July 1966 (19 years, 198 days).
• All six of Nigeria’s wins at the World Cup have come against European opposition, and they have kept a clean sheet in five of those six victories.
• This is Nigeria’s first victory in a World Cup game by a margin of more than one goal since they beat Greece 2-0 in 1994 at their first ever World Cup tournament.
• Iceland have failed to score a goal in a match at either the European Championships or World Cup for the first time, in what was their seventh such game (five at the Euros, two at the World Cup).
• This was Iceland’s first ever defeat in a group stage match at a major international tournament, having previously drawn three and won one of four games.

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