Nigeria vs Iceland Preview

Nigeria are a talented team but they lack any form of cohesion or invention as we found out in their first game.

They also have a tendency to be hot or cold without notice.

They beat Argentina 4-2 in one of their warm up games, only to lose 4-0 to Morocco in another one.

They carried the form of the latter into their first group game against Croatia and were lucky to have lost just 2-0.

What is more frustrating about Nigeria’s performance against the Europeans is that they were completely ineffectual from the start and even after going a goal behind, they never really looked like getting back into the game.

Iceland are gradually letting the world know that they are no pushovers in any way.

They qualified for their first ever international competition two years ago, and surprised everyone by topping their group, before beating England in the next round.

To show that was not a fluke, they qualified for this World Cup by topping their group ahead of Croatia.

They continued their fairytale run with a surprise result in their opening game.

Facing an Argentina side with Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero leading their attack, they held their own and came back after going behind.

Their counter-pressing was impressive and they will be looking to knock Nigeria out with a win here.

In six games at major tournaments, Iceland have lost just once.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Nigeria

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Croatia		2-0		Nigeria	16 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
L	Nigeria		0-1		Czech Republic	6 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
L	England		2-1		Nigeria	2 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
D	Nigeria		1-1		Congo DR	28 May, 2018	International Friendly
L	Nigeria		0-2		Serbia	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

Iceland

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
D	Argentina		1-1		Iceland	16 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
D	Iceland		2-2		Ghana	7 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
L	Iceland		2-3		Norway	2 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
L	Iceland		1-3		Peru	28 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
L	Mexico		3-0		Iceland	24 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

H2H