The Super Eagles of Nigeria was yesterday draw in Group D with Argentina
making it the fourth times the two will face each other in four successive FIFA
World Cup appearances for the Eagles of Nigeria between 2002, 2010, 2014 and now
2018, having failed to qualify for 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany.
The 2018 World Cup draw in Moscow yesternight saw the Super Eagles of Nigeria landed in Group D with Argentina alongside Croatia and Iceland.
The 2018 World Cup draw in Moscow yesternight saw the Super Eagles of Nigeria landed in Group D with Argentina alongside Croatia and Iceland.
The Eagles of Nigeria will now play against the Argentina National Team
in four straight World Cup appearances from 2002 World Cup in South Korea and
Japan, 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 2014 World Cup in Brazil and now 2018
World Cup scheduled to take place in Russia.
However, having beaten the Argentina National Team 4-2 last Month in a
friendly match, the Super Eagles will now have to prove that it was by mistake
they defeated the Argentina Team although Messi was not playing.
The inform Super Eagle will now think of how to qualify from a group
full of good teams by maintaining their form and avoid losing their key players
to injury.
Gernot Rohr, the Super Eagle head Coach, said that the Eagle has to win
their opening match against Croatia before playing with Iceland in their second
match and taking on Argentina in their third match of the tournament.
According to Gernot Rohr after the draw on how the Super Eagles can
defeat Argentina and qualify in the group; “It’s the first game and if we start well we can have a chance to
go through. Croatia will be the most important game because they have technical
quality and play very good football. I played with Bogdan at Hadjuk Split and I
know that Croatian players are quick and technically very strong. At the
moment, they are one of the best teams in Europe and beat Greece 4-1 in the playoffs
so we have to be prepared and ready for them”.
For their second match against Iceland, he
stated the importance of the match, “They
have a lot of fans who usually act as their number 12 player. I saw them play
at the European Championship in 2016 and the supporters were very massive as
they got all the way to the quarter-finals. Their fans will be there and it
will be like they’re playing at home”, Said Rohr.
On Argentina, Rohr stated that the victory
recorded last Month against the two-time World Champions in a friendly will not
count as good world cup preparation with Messi not playing.
“When we
played and beat Argentina 4-2, they did not have Lionel Messi who’s arguably
the best player in the world”, he noted.
“So when we
faced them at the World Cup, they’ll be stronger with him playing. On the other
side, we scored four goals and he’s not going to play in defence so if we can
score more goals against their defence than he will lead his team to score
against us, then we will be fine.
“We showed
that it was possible to win against Argentina, but it will be a different ball
game and we have to be strong both mentally and physically. It will also be a
difficult game for them,” said Rohr.
Below is a
table showing the Grouping in full>>>
Group A
|
Group B
|
Russia
|
Portugal
|
Saudi Arabia
|
Spain
|
Egypt
|
Morocco
|
Uruguay
|
Iran
|
Group C
|
Group D
|
France
|
Argentina
|
Australia
|
Iceland
|
Peru
|
Croatia
|
Denmark
|
Nigeria
|
Group E
|
Group F
|
Brazil
|
Germany
|
Switzerland
|
Mexico
|
Costa Rica
|
Sweden
|
Serbia
|
South Korea
|
Group G
|
Group H
|
Belgium
|
Poland
|
Panama
|
Senegal
|
Tunisia
|
Colombia
|
England
|
Japan
|
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