Nigeria v Iceland....Just Saying

[Enugu II]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

[jette1]

you opened a thread for this; proliferation of threads need to quelled abeg!!

[Enugu II]

you opened a thread for this; proliferation of threads need to quelled abeg!!

Yep, this is Super Eagles ooo on CE! If it was an Arsenal multiple thread then I will understand.

[Bell]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

TO BE QUITE HONEST...


...Iheanacho didn't inspire any confidence in himself the times I've seen him. It would be interesting to see what Simy does.
Bell

[Enugu II]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

TO BE QUITE HONEST...


...Iheanacho didn't inspire any confidence in himself the times I've seen him. It would be interesting to see what Simy does.
Bell

You are correct on Iheanacho but I just feel that he is the one more likely to score than Ighalo. As for Simmy, I think he is there for our set pieces and the crosses and he can hold up the ball in place of Ighalo. But I do not understand why he is going to start with Ighalo.

[hestonap]

I hope for the best but every objective evidence and instinct points towards a poor result for Nigeria. We have shown nothing in our past 5 matches that really suggests we can up our game if required. There is a sense of stagnation in this team and we are coming against a very organised opponent at a time when we are not exactly a team full of guile and we are perhaps at our weakest organisationally.
I certainly will be rooting for us but I just don’t think we have shown that we can do the business in a 90 minute encounter against a well organised and motivated side.
Good luck to the Eagles tomorrow. Let’s hope for an inspired performance and perhaps the beginning of an upward swing.

[icee]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

Going by CE, people are no euphoric at all. You see captions like "win or lose" etc. I think peeps are generally cautious.

[Enugu II]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

Going by CE, people are no euphoric at all. You see captions like "win or lose" etc. I think peeps are generally cautious.

icee,

I hope you are right. I just have very bad vibes surrounding this particular game and seeing that our line up today has not helped matters, really.

[greg]

I hope for the best but every objective evidence and instinct points towards a poor result for Nigeria. We have shown nothing in our past 5 matches that really suggests we can up our game if required. There is a sense of stagnation in this team and we are coming against a very organised opponent at a time when we are not exactly a team full of guile and we are perhaps at our weakest organisationally.
I certainly will be rooting for us but I just don’t think we have shown that we can do the business in a 90 minute encounter against a well organised and motivated side.
Good luck to the Eagles tomorrow. Let’s hope for an inspired performance and perhaps the beginning of an upward swing.

Yes I'm hoping too. After our 1st match, Luca Modric said 2 things that caught my attention:
1. This win has given us the confidence we need to go on and do well in our remaining two group matches
2. I am sure that Nigeria will win points in this group
The 1st prediction is already happening as he said. The confidence in their ranks was a lot better than they showed in our game. Fingers crossed that he is correct on the 2nd one

[maceo4]

KOC says its a 343 tomorrow, I don't get it how Simy and Ighalo can play in a 3 man forward line?

[Synopsis]

KOC says its a 343 tomorrow, I don't get it how Simy and Ighalo can play in a 3 man forward line?

Simy will play the 10 role (Uchebo role).

[maceo4]

These boys better come good...

[/video]

[bret- hart]

from 4231 to 352 and now 442. AT this rate Ayo Akinfe will be a better coach for Nigeria.

[maceo4]

from 4231 to 352 and now 442. AT this rate Ayo Akinfe will be a better coach for Nigeria.

343 o

[marko]

Football has certainly changed that Nigeria in 2018 will be scared of a country called Iceland, at the same time, respect to Iceland, they knocked England out of the European championships, they can more than hold their own, they play a brand of football, even the mighty Brazil will find hard to breakdown, against France in the Euro championship, i felt they got carried away with the England victory and decided to play open with France, they should have stuck to their game plan, right now they know their limitations, they have a certain belief they can match any team in world football

[Orion]

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

This is the problem some have complained about regarding how some fans are delusional. You said you've not seen anything to inspire you from this team in the last 5 games yet you're complaining that we can no longer top the group? Seriously?

The Argentina loss offers us more positives than negatives. Initially, looking at the group, one would say the fight for the 2 spots was between Argentina, Croatia, and Nigeria. Croatia took maximum points from us so there was nothing more we could do about them. As far as we are concerned now, the fight for the 2nd place is between 3 teams - Nigeria, Iceland, and Argentina. We want our opponents in this 3-way battle to accumulate the least amount of points as possible. We still have a chance of stopping Iceland and Argentina by taking points from them but not Croatia.

As things stand, we could beat Iceland and draw with Argentina and still qualify. So an Argentina loss is the best possible result for us IF one is not deluded in still dreaming about topping the group after losing the first game 2-0 (and confessed to not seeing anything to inspire them from the team in the last 5 games).

[Goldleaf]

KOC says its a 343 tomorrow, I don't get it how Simy and Ighalo can play in a 3 man forward line?

If it's 3-4-3, I welcome it.

But if it is indeed 3-4-3 then we are talking about energy of EPL level because 3-4-3 only works for super fit players. Any flagging from the 3 upfront leaves the midfield short and if midfielders don't retreat to support the backline, disaster!

Matches featuring 3-4-3 are never goalless but end to end and high scoring.

[Goldleaf]

It seems to me that so many people are euphoric about Nigeria v Iceland after Argentina's implosion today. IMHO, this should still be one game at a time for Nigeria. Nigeria has shown nothing in its last five games to inspire any confidence that it will win tomorrow. Thus, talking about qualification is quite early.

To be honest, I want Nigeria to win tomorrow and I believe it is possible but already there are warning signs like these:

1. One just hopes the players are not cel;berating Argentina's ;loss as much as the celebration here on CE.

2. I am alarmed at the lineup announced as official for tomorrow. Echiejile and Ighalo named. For me, the missing name is Iheanacho. He is the guy who can score on half chances. Yes, I understand that Simy is possibly in the starting team because he is the only one who can duel aerially in the box with Icelandic defenders and surely there will be crosses. But I had hoped that Iheanacho will start as his partner. As for Echiejile, perhaps his defense on set pieces and his ability to win aerial duels has led to his introduction. He will give little going forward and may be we won't worry defensively since I expect Nigeria to dominate possession in this game.

3. This is one of the most organized team in this World Cup and I just hope we can find a way through because opportunities will not be much in this game.

For me this is going to be a cagey game and I hope we score first and hit them for a second on a counter but this game is far from decided and right now the Argentina loss is meaningless for Nigeria. In fact, if you think about it, that loss has now likely taken us out of the possibility of finishing first. Thus, I really didn't care whether Argentina lost or not. What matters is what we do tomorrow.

EII,

For some reason unknown till now, Kelechi Iheanacho does not give the aura of one that can be depended upon going into a war. It is sad but true.