PBP Match Thread: Nigeria vs Iceland, 21 June 2018 [R]

Good win for Nigeria. It seems the changes in personel and tactics paid off. After the bloodless display against Croatia I kind of expected a much better showing. Now they have a real final with Argentina.

 

No they won't!

 

And we will get rid of Argentina. Our team just needed confidence. And they can beat Argentina.

 

I will call it now. We will beat Argentina and it will not be close.

There! I said it!

 

Man, i had this game completely wrong. I did not expect Nigeria to play the way they did after their 1st round performance.

Very happy for the Nigerians and their supporters.. and i sincerely from the bottom of my heart hope you guys are the reason for sending the Argentinians back home..

Hopefully it will be the last time i ever see this fraud of a 'G.O.A.T' participating in an international tournament.

 

When we were saying that the coach came out with a very cowardly game plan and formation against Croatia, we knew what we were saying

Just play the Nigerian game, win or lose. That's all we ask.

 

I hope that is your attempt at humor, otherwise I hope you get banned for those terrible accusations.

Nigeria is very popular here in Sweden since you had a Swedish coach. lots of swedes wish you well.

 

I didn't watch your team's matches so far (although I caught moments of the match vs. Iceland and the first goal was great). Another poster said Nigeria's lineup changed between Croatia and Iceland.

If therefore your team plays the best it can (it did win 4-2 in a friendly vs. Argentina not very long ago), then it is very possible and probable your team will defeat Argentina.

Good luck. Your team denied mine the 1996 Olympic gold medal (and incidentally, your team did the same to Argentina in the same tournament) and I always though Nigeria would have been the next big team from Africa. Let's see if I was right.

 

Yes, thank you for mentioning that gold medal winning Nigeria team. I assume you are Brazilian? Great memories! That team should have gone on to greater things, but a mafia inside the team forced the coach to take injured players to the 1998 WC at the expense of in form players like Akpoborie, and the resulting infighting and factionalism helped to destroy their chances.

The confidence is back in this team. I feel they will produce a very good game against Argentina.

 

People weren't calling Iceland a "tiny frozen island" when they beat England, Croatia,mwhen they tied Ronaldo's Portugal and Messi's Argentina.

They weren't calling them a "tiny frozen island" when everybody and all the experts were predicting Iceland to beat Nigeria.

You can't have it both ways. You can't expect to play with the big boys and talk crap and then when you lose retreat to that "tiny frozen island" excuse.

I second what I stated an overrated team. Certainly they are not as good as some of their results would suggest. Still a decent team though.

 

I'd have to agree. Yes, Musa is a clearly a mercurial talent but he has always performed for the Super Eagles, despite a club career where he's shown very little outside of the RPL.

 

There were far greater tactical/selection mistakes than simply not starting Musa.

He set us up to defend against Croatia. He played Iwobi who is our most creative player out on the wings, but Iwobi is better in the middle. We had Idowu at left back, and he never joins the attack, while Shehu starting over Ebuehi at RB was poor to because Ebuehi is much better both attacking and defending. We had no overlapping wingbacks, there was no running into space, nothing, just timid play.

Musa had a really good day today, but he hasn't really been one of our better players over the last 2 or 3 years. Most people thought he shouldn't even have made the squad, but the problem is that because of his pace he has always been used as a winger, and he is horrible at passing and crossing. Today he played as a striker and had a great game.

 

knowing how Croatia usually do, I'm sure they will now lose their last match to Iceland, because they do not need to win ...

 

And we can win ours. Its long overdue.

 

I'm not from Iceland. But come on, they have never ever won a WC game in their existence. If they beat you it would be historic for them.

I don't understand the anger for playing down a win over Iceland. I mean sure, they have great fighting spirit, but in my eyes Nigeria is possibly the best football nation in Africa. You have had loads of fantastic players like Kanu, Jay-Jay Okocha, Mikel, Moses,West and i can go on forever. Iceland has had nothing, most of their players have played in the awful Nordic leagues like in my Sweden.

I honestly thought beating Iceland was like a yawn for you guys.

 

Nigeria should focus on winning the next game and they really can. Argentina isn't any better also they not as good defensively.

 

Agreed 100%. I value this Nigerian team a lot (in fact working with many Nigerians seems that I value their team more then they do - I said they are better then Senegal as a team, and they just would not believe in their team... Until yesterday) , and obviously Nigeria had, has, and in the near future will have much bigger footballing potential then Iceland. Nigeria with their resources should more often be a favorite v Iceland then not. Capabilities of Nigeria are way better then Iceland, and so they used them yesterday.

However, I would also not diminish this win: Icelend, especially in defence, is a hard to break unit, strong physically, well organized and determined. They have nothing to loose, no one will put them under pressure for not winning. They had their chances as well, and could have gotten the result with more luck. Nevertheless, Nigeria did their job yesterday - that's it.

Now the real challenge will come, as I think Argentinians may lock Sampaoli in a cupboard for the last game and come out as Messi says. It is not over yet, but advantage is on Nigeria's side. They only need a draw.

 

Come on man.

Was it a "yawn" for England, Portugal, Croatia, Argentina?

Give credit where credit is due.

Iceland don't all of a sudden become a bad team simply because we beat them.

Nigeria deserves full respect and credit for that result.

 

It's odd how everyone was saying that Nigeria can't beat Iceland before the game.

After the game - it was expected...

 

To me it was always like this: Nigeria was a favorite to defeat Icelend, as they obviously have much bigger footballing potential. Nevertheless, to do this, Nigeria still had to play up to their potential (and not as they did v Croatia for example), as Icelend is a solid, albeit somehow limited, team. As you mentioned: Portugal, England, and Croatia in qualifiers could not undo Iceland even though they also have a much bigger potential. So, it does take the ability to use your potential and do your job to defeat this decent Icelandic team - Nigeria did their job, England last time couldn't... Full credit Nigeria for performing as their should. Good job.

On the other hand, it would not surprise me, if this game ended in a draw too. I would say, out of 10 games Nigeria wins 5, 4 are a draw, 1 wins Iceland. Iceland is no San Marino, but a solid competitor.

 

I agree. But look at comments prior to the game and then compare them to some of the comments afterwards

 

I admit to being wrong. I did not expect Nigeria to beat Iceland.. Congrats to Nigeria though.. i am happy for them.. hope they can keep the momentum and proper player selection going forward against Argentina..

 

Speaking of Argentina..

How does everyone feel about this team moving forward.. given they still have hope..

Do they come out inspired with a sense of belief.. or has the damage been done morally and there is just no way back for this group?