Can the Eagles Fly in Brazil?

THE reigning African champions have the potential to cause plenty of problems for their opponents but can also just as easily be brushed aside as we saw four years ago in South Africa. Nigeria recorded one point, losing to Argentina and Greece, while drawing with South Korea in their final group stage match.
This time around, they have come into the tournament as the African Champions, after their 2013 African Cup of Nations heroics, which will undoubtedly serve as some sort of morale booster.
With recent friendly results producing draws and a loss to USA, it becomes hard to analyse just how the Big Boss and his boys will fare.

The Eagles look solid on paper but that does not necessarily mean they will be able to recreate the outcome of the 1994 and 1998 teams who both finished top of their group before losing out in the Round of 16.
The Team

Having conceded four goals in their last three outings, many have posited that the Super Eagles will have to be more compact in the backline if they are to go far at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

The Nigerian defence indeed boasts of a healthy mix of players; home and foreign based. The youngest (Kenneth Omeruo) and the oldest (Joseph Yobo) in the Nigerian squad are already in Brazil to challenge 31 other countries for the World Cup trophy. With the injury and subsequent replacement of AS Monaco left-back, Elderson Echiejile, Coach Stephen Keshi is left with seven natural defenders in his roster.
The selected defenders indeed have their work cut out as they will face some of the most deadly front-men in Brazil, including the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko to mention a few of the star studded men in Group F where Nigeria will be playing in.

The usually defensive-minded Mikel will relish his creative role in the national team and will be flanked by clubmate Victor Moses and Lazio’s Ogenyi Onazi.

Games of football are decided by goals scored and for Coach Stephen Keshi to travel to Brazil with as much as eight forwards compared to teams like Germany, who named just one striker in their 23-man squad, the Big Boss definitely has something under his shelves. However, Keshi has several critics in the choice of the forwards selected.

Stephen Keshi has been faulted for overlooking top guns like Ike Uche, Brown Ideye, Chinedu Obasi and even Obafemi Martins who all are churning out commendable performances for their respective club sides. The Big Boss has defended his choice and it is time for the selected ones to prove their mettle as they go against opposing defenders in the coming days at the Mundial.

Past outings against group opponents
Nigeria have played Iran only once in the past, for a 1-0 friendly win in Hong Kong in 1998. Nigeria and Bosnia have never met at international senior level. Nigeria and Argentina have played each other six times previously. The Super Eagles have won just once, while drawing once and losing on four occasions. The Africans have lost three times to Argentina in the group stage of World Cups for three losses in 1994, 2002 and 2010.

With the team’s mandates to make it any further past the Round of 16, the Eagles have to strive not to finish at the bottom of Group F. As is expected, Keshi has instilled in his side a belief that they can beat anybody they come up against. Whether the Nigerian players actually believe that remains to be seen but we can rightly say that the boss has plenty of faith in his men.

Amid recent allegations of match-fixing, following goalkeeper Austin Ejide’s tricky disallowed own-goal in the 2-2 friendly draw with Scotland, the pkayers will surely stick together.

The midfield will be where most of Nigeria’s influence comes from as they look to feed Emenike who will most likely be their star striker in Brazil and scored most of the goals. Peter Odemwingie hasn’t scored an international goal since August 2010, Ahmed Musa doesn’t have the best of strike rates, Shola Ameobi is noted more for his hard work rather than finesse while Uche Nwofor and Michael Uchebo are largely untested at this level.

Group F is a group that Nigeria could easily qualify from but if they fail to get maximum points in the opening fixture against Iran(as most Nigerian teams do), they might consequently stand the risk of being knocked out in the group stage.

No doubt, the Eagles have got the talent but it will take their best performance and more to withstand the Argentines and Bosnians.