1st December, 2017
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Nigeria’s Super Eagles will face perennial foe, Argentina, Croatia and Iceland in Group D in Russia 2018.
Nigeria and Argentina have played several intentional games, both friendly and competitive at the senior level.
The Super Eagles first played Argentina at the 1994 World Cup in USA. In that game Argentina captained by Diego Maradona ran away with 2-1 victory.
In 1995, Nigeria met Argentina at the FIFA Confederation Cup in Saudi Arabia with the match ending in a goalless draw.
In 2002 World Cup in Germany, Argentina beat Nigeria by a lone goal in the group stage while at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Argentina again ran away with 1-0 victory over Nigeria.
Nigeria spank Argentina 4-1 in 2011 in an international friendly. Argentina however avenge the defeat when it defeated Nigeria 3-1 in an international friendly in September 2011.
Nigeria again met Argentina at the 2014 World Cup and narrowly lost 3-2 to the South Americans.
The latest meeting between the two side was an international friendly match last month in Russia. The Super Eagles ran away with a comprehensive 4-2 victory.
One sad note is that Nigeria’s Super Eagles have never beaten Argentina in a competitive match or at any senior World Cup.
Pundits expect that the pendulum will swing next year in Russia as Argentina appear to be weak and struggled to qualify even with Lionel Messi in the team. More so, Nigeria parade crops of young and talented players to do the magic.
For the other opponents, Nigeria’s Super Eagles have never played Croatia and Iceland at any International match.
Croatia had to rely on play-off to qualify for the World Cup after demolishing Greece 4-1 and will pose a threat to Nigeria but the Eagles should be able to hold their own against them.
Iceland appears to be the underdog in this group. Iceland became the smallest nation to qualify for World Cup in Europe without play-off. They won their group.