2018 FIFA WORLD CUP

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP – Nigeria vs Iceland PREVIEW

Nigeria and Iceland are two very evenly sides and both will be looking to solidify their group position. Nigeria are coming after one of the worst performances by any nation in the world cup, looking very sluggish in a 2-0 defeat to Croatia, meanwhile Iceland are on a high after picking up a point against Argentina in a 1-1 draw where they defender extremely well. Iceland’s Cinderella story just keeps on rolling, but will it continue against Nigeria, or will Nigeria break their hearts? Let’s get into this preview

NIGERIA

Well Nigeria couldn’t have performed any worse for sure in their opening match. A 2-0 loss to a better side in Croatia, however they never looked like winning or at least getting a draw. Nigeria’s main men like Iwobi, Iheanacho, Ighalo, Mikel were a no show and their main man Moses got on the ball, but it seemed like he turned up for a diving contest instead of a football match because other than diving on the floor, he didn’t do anything. Nigeria failed to exploit the pace advantage up front and then got punished by making two horrible mistakes at the back, firstly unorganised defending for the 1st goal from the corner and then again shocking defending from another corner to give up a penalty. Croatia punished them for their mistakes and took the win. Now Nigeria’s backs are against the wall as losing this game knocks them out.

Now coming into the game against Iceland, Nigeria pretty much have to improve in every aspect of the game. We shouldn’t be surprised if the squad gets rotated because they were that bad. To win, Nigeria need to get one of their main man Iwobi on the ball because he was a ghost in the first match and Iwobi is a talented player that can’t be ghosting like that as he can create chances out of nothing. Furthermore Moses needs to make sure to actually play football instead of diving and then their strikers either Ighalo or Iheanacho needs to put themselves into positions to score. Now looking at Nigeria’s back line it will be a tough test for them because that’s their biggest weakness and given the fact that they were extremely poor defending corners, they must sort it out as Iceland are even more of a threat with their tall, physical players who excel at those situations especially with Sigurdsson delivering it. Nigeria will literally need to improve their whole play to pick something out of this game, however if they continue to look as sluggish as they’ve done against Croatia then they’ll see another defeat. They must exploit their advantage in having quicker forwards and make sure they show organised defending, especially from set pieces.

ICELAND

Iceland are coming into this game after a very impressive defensive performance against Argentina. They managed to shut out Messi and got themselves a 1-1 draw. Iceland conceded early, but impressively instantly pegged Argentina back and then held them off. Iceland’s Cinderella story just seems to go on. Iceland’s biggest threat was long balls in the box as it’s always been with the delivery of Sigurdsson. Defensively Iceland couldn’t have performed any better, they shut every bit of space to deny Argentina a win. Iceland’s goalkeeper was the star man by making a few great saves including a penalty save from Messi. It really was a historical result for Iceland by stopping the mighty Argentina. Iceland have put themselves in a good position to advance from the group if they can pick up a win here now.

To pick up a win here, Iceland need to exploit Nigeria’s weaknesses, the main one being the lack of good defending. Nigeria were very unorganised when Croatia were putting in corners which is something that Iceland actually excel at even better than Croatia do. If Iceland catch Nigeria slacking on set pieces again, then they will punish them because Sigurdsson is top class at delivering the ball and they have tall, powerful players who can score from those balls in. Iceland need to continue to stay solid at the back because Nigeria will surely be more of a threat this time round going forward as they do have talented players that will look to bounce back. Iceland do have more experience than their opposition and that could be a huge key. If they can physically punish the young Nigerian players it will frustrate them and that could be a huge key for Iceland. To summarise if Iceland continue to stay solid, physical at the back and can put in good deliveries from set pieces, then they will win and put themselves in a very good position.

Predictions

I think we’ll see an even match here. Nigeria will probably be the more of an attacking side, but Iceland will be very dangerous on the counters. Iceland’s experience will play a huge part as I believe they will frustrate Nigeria’s young team and will eventually punish them. Iceland performed tremendously in the first game playing defensive football while Nigeria were shocking going forward. We should expect Nigeria to put in a better shift, but essentially Iceland look like the better team overall, their team unity and desire will pull them through. We should expect a narrow 0-1 Iceland win here from a set piece goal.

Group Standings

1 Croatia 6 pts +5 GD

2 Iceland 1pt 0 GD

3 Argentina 1pt -3 GD

4 Nigeria 0 pts -2 GD

ODDS

Nigeria Win – 2.75

Draw – 3.00