Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

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Ayo Akinfe
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Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

Post by Ayo Akinfe »

Here are the eight teams that will be seeded for the World Cup:

Brazil
Selecao are on fire at the moment. They qualified for Russia with so much ease it is frightening. Do you know they were 10 points ahead of the second placed team Uruguay? Of late, they have been on fire, hammering Uruguay 4-1 away in Monteveido and beating South American champions Chile 3-0 at home. When you look at their forward line of Jesus, Neymar and Coutinho, you can see nothing but danger. They are also very tight at the back now too

Germany
Known as the Meinschaft meaning community, Germany;'s national team is like a machine. Well-oiled, well structured and fully functional with every part working in tandem with the other. Germany are the only team with a 100% record in qualification. Yes, they beat every team that faced them. No one else achieved this among all the other 32 teams

Portugal
For me, Portugal are not really that much of a threat. Yes, they qualified in style beating Switzerland but I believe they were in a very weak group. In my opinion, they are a one-man team. If one can shackle Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal simply do not function. If you ask me, Nigeria has nothing to fear from them

Argentina
Another team that is living off past glory. Albiceleste are an ageing side and players like Di Maria, Otomendi and Mascherano are past their very best. For me, the main threats are Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Segio Aguero. Given that the coach only plays one out of Aguero and Higuain, it makes them a two-man team in my opinion. However, Messi is fully capable of winning a game on his own. If one can deny their targetman service and shackle Messi, Argentina are very beatable. Just look at the South Americanm qualifiers to see how beatable they are

Belgium
Fir me, Belgium are a collection of highly talented players but so far have failed to show they are a great team. Like Senegal, ivory Coast and Algeria, they have some great stars on paper but on the field, their collectiveness has not shone through. Ibn my opinion, Belgium qualified for the World Cup relatively easily because they were in a weak group. We all know about the likes of Hazard and Lukaku but they do not scare me anymore than say Kastadinov and Stoichkov did in 1994 or 1998.

Russia
Nothing really much to say about them. Russia is seeded because they are the hosts and as happened in 2010 when Bafana Bafana was seeded, i do not expect much from them. Their most potent weapon to be honest will be their extremist fans. If we are drawn in the same group of them,. Nigerian fans going to Russia should be very careful as the hardcore racist Zenit St Petersburg fans in particular will not taken beaten by an African team lightly. I can see them carrying our murderous racist attacks if Nigeria beats them

Poland
For me, another team that was fortunate to get a good draw in the qualifiers. They have a few good players like Fabianski but in the main nothing about Poland scares me. They lost 0-4 away to Denmark on September 1, which tells me they are easily beatable. Were Poland in a tougher group there is no way they would have qualified in my opinion

France
Probably the most unpredictable of the seeded teams. With Les Blues, you never know which team will turn up. Is it the one that drew 0-0 with Luxembourg at home on Sep 3 or the one that hammered Holland 4-0 on August 31? On their day, they can be brilliant but on another day they can be crap. Nigeria has met France twice, wining a friendly 1-0 in Paris and losing in the World Cup 0-2. For me, we are kind of on a par, so nothing about them scares me. We can beat them just as Senegal did in 2002 if we are firing on all cylinders.


In a nutshell, only the two 2014 finalists give me any cause for concern. If you ask me, the best two teams in the world at the moment are Germany and Brazil and ideally, they should both be in the final of Russia 2018.

Who we get as a second seeded team will be key though. Most of these teams are on a par with Nigeria at the moment:

Spain
England
Mexico
Uruguay
Italy
Switzerland
Colombia
New Zealand

If we use our natural advantage of pace, Nigeria can cause some damage at this World Cup. Let us wait for the draw though.
john12
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Re: Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

Post by john12 »

None of the team should scare you. You should respect all of them. However, we should hope to avoid
Brazil, Germany, Argentina
We can tolerate
Portugal, France, Belgium while
Poland and Russia are tolerable. Amongst all the team we should avoid in pot 1 is Argentina. There's a psychological effect on them
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Ayo Akinfe
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Re: Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

Post by Ayo Akinfe »

john12 wrote:None of the team should scare you. You should respect all of them. However, we should hope to avoid
Brazil, Germany, Argentina
We can tolerate
Portugal, France, Belgium while
Poland and Russia are tolerable. Amongst all the team we should avoid in pot 1 is Argentina. There's a psychological effect on them

Argentina are wholly dependent on Messi these days. Kind of like they were with Maradona in 1990. See how Cameroon beat them!
EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA
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Re: Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

Post by EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA »

So we’re just n the same level as Spain now? Are we going to a football WC or a YouTube analyst competition?:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
OCCUPY NFF!!
john12
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Re: Only two of the eight seeded teams really cause a scare

Post by john12 »

Ayo don't be ignorant. Although, Messi is Argentina best player, it's not going to negate the fact that there are aguero (man city all time top scorer and best striker in EPL) hinguain (Serbia a best striker) Demaria (French league best winger) dybala (prince of Turin) to say that Argentina is a team of Messi na lie

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