World Cup 2014 Team Spotlight – Nigeria
Nigeria has qualified for the World Cup 4 times before and twice advanced past the group stage. Amazingly in three of the four times they have found themselves in the same group as Argentina.
Nigeria
Group F: Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria
Odds to Win Group F: +1100
Odds to Win World Cup: +20000
Group Stage Schedule
June 16 vs. Iran
June 21 vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
June 25 vs. Argentina
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World Cup History
In the past they have been able to run with them but this year the squad is not nearly as competitive as some of the past Super Eagles sides.
Nigeria has not won a match in their last two World Cup appearances.
Strengths
The Nigerians tend to wait for their opponents to set the pace but have been very good in the latter portions of games.
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They have been hard to keep off the scoreboard, scoring in every qualifying match. This is a new generation of players compared to the ones that performed well in 1994 and 1998.
As you can tell by the odds this squad is not expected to do much damage though they did win the African Nations Cup last year. This is still a program in transition.
Weaknesses
There is no doubting the fitness of the Super Eagles but when it comes to talent this team is not as strong.
They know that goal scoring will be a challenge and even though they are a defensive minded team they struggle with identifying the right opportunities to jump into the attack, often leaving themselves vulnerable.
As good as John Obi Mikel is he can’t be left to defend the entire midfield himself. They put goaltender Vincent Enyeamma in too many challenging situation, eventually he will not be able to stop them all.
Key Player – John Obi Mikel
Mikel is no stranger to high level futbol as he is an important piece of the squad at EPL’s Chelsea. He is a talented defensive player but has never been much of a contributor offensively which speaks volumes about this year’s Nigerian team.
He has been a regular on the national team since 2006, missing out on the World Cup successes the Super Eagles had in the 1990’s.
Prediction – 3rd in Group F
The final positioning for this team will come down to how they perform against Iran. It is their first game of the tournament and if they get the win they should they could be a threat against Bosnia in a follow up game. If not they are destined to sink to the bottom of the group.
That third place prediction says they will get the win but not much else in Group F.
