Nigeria 2 - 0 Iceland:(Musa x 2)

[realtrouble]

The pk that never was. The stupid American/New Zealander doesn’t know jack, even with VAR. Watching again, Ebuehi was already reaching for the ball before the Icelander stretched for it. No way Ebuehi could have retracted his leg.

It was a clumsy penalty.

[metalalloy]

I dey office... Omo i don forget i just shout GOAL...

See as all eyes dey on me

[kawawa]

Off to St. Pete tomorrow for next game. Hope to see some CEs

[Otitokoro]

The PK call was rather harsh.
Anyhow, poetic justice....

The pk that never was. The stupid American/New Zealander doesn’t know jack, even with VAR. Watching again, Ebuehi was already reaching for the ball before the Icelander stretched for it. No way Ebuehi could have retracted his leg.

[kbt]

Now, we have to beat Argentina and move on to the next stage. We have our FATE on our hands - completely

Yes, but a draw will see us through even if Iceland beat Croatia.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't it come down to goal difference?

Our GD is 0, Argentina's would be -3 in the event of a draw. Icelands would be 0 as well if you won 2-0 against Croatia and +1 if you won 3-0

I think unless Croatia significantly weaken their team, it is unlikely Iceland would go through in that scenario.

Argentina is only going to qualify if they win, they can forget about drawing.

So it would be goal difference? As Odas asked, is there any head to head consideration?

tiebreakers

points obtained in all group matches;
goal difference in all group matches;
number of goals scored in all group matches;

head to head comes after this.

Thanks for clarifying. Damn, I thought we just needed a draw if Iceland win but it looks like we have to go all out and beat Argentina.

[camex]

Now, we have to beat Argentina and move on to the next stage. We have our FATE on our hands - completely

Yes, but a draw will see us through even if Iceland beat Croatia.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't it come down to goal difference?

Our GD is 0, Argentina's would be -3 in the event of a draw. Icelands would be 0 as well if you won 2-0 against Croatia and +1 if you won 3-0

I think unless Croatia significantly weaken their team, it is unlikely Iceland would go through in that scenario.

Argentina is only going to qualify if they win, they can forget about drawing.

I agree, the only unknown, I think, is whether Croatia will send their 1st team against Iceland as they are already qualified.

the might because if they have a heavy loss and we beat Argentina by a few goals without reply, we top the group so they won't want that.

They have + 5 goal average. Nigeria has 0 at the moment. Your scenario is highly unlikely.

[oscar52]

Ebuehi is still TOO RAW, but will come good in future.

Raw Ebuehi 10X better than Idowu.

[truetalk]

Omeruo has played like a BOSS!

He's been very good.

He has been very good with the interceptions & clearances. Still clumsy & with iffy passing. We're good in the CD position though and playing 3 at the back might be a platform to be more adventurous.

We have limited options on the left mid though & Ebuehi may be converted there. We now really miss Moses Simon, which makes the dropping of Aina even more inexplicable.

[sinequanon]

Now, we have to beat Argentina and move on to the next stage. We have our FATE on our hands - completely

Yes, but a draw will see us through even if Iceland beat Croatia.

Good, but let's aim for a win against Argentina

Absolutely. And they can't be in two minds about it. Argentina will not be in two minds.

If Argentina are forced to start taking risks, the way to exploit that is to remain attack minded, not park bus.

In any case, it is most likely that Argentina will play for set pieces, and exploit any weaknesses Nigeria has in this area. Trying to park bus would be a very bad idea for Nigeria -- suicidal.

[oloye]

Let us not even debate the penalty it was stone cold and VAR confirmed it. The easiest way to get a penalty is to put your body in front of your opponent,,if such is clumsy he would enter the trap. I saw it coming and I was praying Ebuehi won't put the leg forward..as soon as he did I put my hands on.my head.

[metalalloy]

Post match conference

[/video]

[truetalk]

This group might come down to goals difference. We should try and score one more

Hopefully, the Croatian subs play with Pride and don't roll over for Iceland.

It won't matter if we get the win against Argentina though.

[metalalloy]

Let us not even debate the penalty it was stone cold and VAR confirmed it. The easiest way to get a penalty is to put your body in front of your opponent,,if such is clumsy he would enter the trap. I saw it coming and I was praying Ebuehi won't put the leg forward..as soon as he did I put my hands on.my head.

Anyone debating that pk has no knowledge of the rules of football.

[Tbite]

Let us not even debate the penalty it was stone cold and VAR confirmed it. The easiest way to get a penalty is to put your body in front of your opponent,,if such is clumsy he would enter the trap. I saw it coming and I was praying Ebuehi won't put the leg forward..as soon as he did I put my hands on.my head.

I was more interested in the player who unnecessarily played it short than Ebuehi to be honest.

Yes the player was close by, but we had 3 players there and were in control! He (Troost or was it Balogun?) played it short, putting Ebuehi under pressure, he was clumsy but should not have been put in that position.

[oloye]

If not for Omeruo we would have conceded from set piece again today...he read the flight of the ball in the air like a good book. And gobbled the balls like a delicious meat pie. Immense display by the lads at the back, Rohr has built a good defensive unit. I am happy Omeruo got his groove back,looks like he is one of these boys who thrive on the big stage

[oloye]

Let us not even debate the penalty it was stone cold and VAR confirmed it. The easiest way to get a penalty is to put your body in front of your opponent,,if such is clumsy he would enter the trap. I saw it coming and I was praying Ebuehi won't put the leg forward..as soon as he did I put my hands on.my head.

I was more interested in the player who unnecessarily played it short than Ebuehi to be honest.

Yes the player was close by, but we had 3 players there and were in control! He (Troost or was it Balogun?) played it short, putting Ebuehi under pressure, he was clumsy but should not have been put in that position.

Omeruo controlled the ball wanted to run with the ball then saw Ebuehi coming, naturally he slowed down hoping he would get, the Icelandic player read what what was going on and exploited the lapse. No point trying to blame Omeruo,athonpoint were we in danger. The stretch of the leg was rash...allow the Iceland player to get the ball,he was backing our goal.

[Dragonstout]

Why did Musa come off the bench in the last game?

[Kneedeep]

Simple but clever plan by Rohr to pass the ball and force Iceland to come out and chase the ball. By the second half, they were huffing and puffing and ready to be knocked off. Musa and Omeruo were immense.

We have been shiaring out plenty of abuse but our initial ball movement and positioning out of defense is a big question mark and we will not have the luxury of covering it up with wakabout football against Argentina like we attempted to do against Croatia.

[danfo driver]

Ebuehi is still TOO RAW, but will come good in future.

But if the coach does not play him he gets called names..sometimes fans just need to step back and realise that the coaches who work with the team know the players better

He was impressive & great for a team that needed to go for the win in the 2nd half.

It was his 1st time playing on the left for Nigeria, and he had a massive impact on the pace and flow of the game in the 2nd half.

When it came to crunch time & Idowu was on the yellow, the coach had no confidence to bring Elderson on. Yet he left Aina off.

No one is stopping them from doing their job. Some of us actually make calls and recommendations that they follow afterwards.

I'll just keep it at that for now.

Rohr did not bring Elderson to play. The truth is Elderson has missed out on 2 world cups (I believe) due to injury. This is his last chance to attend a world cup, and the coach did Elderson a favor.

[Cellular]

I no want to be killjoy but Moses has had 2 pedestrian games if not horrible games for Naija.

[SylverEagles]

The pk that never was. The stupid American/New Zealander doesn’t know jack, even with VAR. Watching again, Ebuehi was already reaching for the ball before the Icelander stretched for it. No way Ebuehi could have retracted his leg.

Haba!! Make we fear God o!! That was a penalty all day and everyday!! In that situation all Ebuehi had to do was note the position of the Iceland player and just step back and block his passing lanes. He and Omeruo had him surrounded!

[oscar52]

One question though...how come our players often fail to disguise their shots? The Icelandic defenders blocked our shots many times because our players made their intentions clear.

Etebo mostly. He is not good enough but we tolerate him.

[danfo driver]

If not for Omeruo we would have conceded from set piece again today...he read the flight of the ball in the air like a good book. And gobbled the balls like a delicious meat pie. Immense display by the lads at the back, Rohr has built a good defensive unit. I am happy Omeruo got his groove back,looks like he is one of these boys who thrive on the big stage

Seems playing in England (middlesbrough) helped him a lot -- with defensive headers.

I especially love how he moved back, judged the flight of the ball and launched himself at the ball. That useless chris smalling (United) can learn a lot from Omeruo.