Football World Cup 2014 / Nigeria

This article covers the Nigerian national football team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil . Nigeria took part in the finals for the fifth time and in a World Cup finals in South America for the first time . For the third time the round of 16 was reached in which France lost 2-0.

qualification

Nigeria qualified through the CAF qualification . In the group stage of the second round, the team in Group F faced Malawi, Kenya and Namibia. All home games were played at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar . Between the second and third group matches, the 2013 African Cup of Nations took place, which Nigeria won. With three wins and three draws, the playoff games of the group winners were reached, in which Nigeria prevailed against Ethiopia with two wins and was the first African team to qualify.

table

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria	6th	3	3	0	007: 300	+4	12
2.	Malawi	6th	1	4th	1	004: 500	−1	07th
3.	Kenya	6th	1	3	2	004: 500	−1	06th
4th	Namibia	6th	1	2	3	002: 400	−2	05

date	place	opponent	Result	Goals for Nigeria
06/03/2012	Calabar	Nigeria	-	Namibia	1: 0 (0: 0)	Uche (80.)
06/09/2012	Blantyre ( MWI )	Malawi	-	Nigeria	1: 1 (0: 0)	Egwuekwe (89.)
03/23/2013	Calabar	Nigeria	-	Kenya	1: 1 (0: 1)	Oduamadi (88.)
06/05/2013	Nairobi ( KEN )	Kenya	-	Nigeria	0: 1 (0: 0)	Musa (80.)
06/12/2013	Windhoek ( NAM )	Namibia	-	Nigeria	1: 1 (0: 0)	Oboabona (82.)
07.09.2013	Calabar	Nigeria	-	Malawi	2: 0 (1: 0)	Emenike (45. + 1), Moses (50./ eleven meters)

Group winners playoff games

date	place	opponent	Result	Goals for Nigeria
October 13, 2013	Addis Ababa ( ETH )	Ethiopia	1: 2	Emenike (67th, 90th / Elf)
November 16, 2013	Calabar	Ethiopia	2-0	Moses (20./Elfm.), Obinna (81.)

Nigeria scored the fewest goals of all group winners in the group stage with 7 goals together with Burkina Faso. Only one goal was scored in the first five games, only two were scored in the last, including one from penalties. And in the playoff games you only scored two goals and there was always a penalty. A total of 33 players were used in the eight games, 20 of whom were also in the 2013 African Cup of Nations. The only players who were always used were captain and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama , Ahmed Musa and Godfrey Oboabona , these were the only ones next to Victor Moses who stayed in the team after the second game when all other players were exchanged for the third game. The top scorer was Emmanuel Emenike with three goals, one of which was a penalty in the last minute of the first playoff game for a 2-1 winner.

Contingent

The World Cup line-up of the Nigerian selection is listed below. The 23 players played for 23 different clubs, four of them in Nigeria. Five players took part in the last World Cup in South Africa , two of them ( Joseph Yobo and Vincent Enyeama ) even twelve years earlier in Japan and South Korea . Elderson Echiéjilé , who had also participated in 2010, was canceled four days before the start of the tournament due to an injury sustained in a friendly and replaced by Ejike Uzoenyi .

Through his four appearances, Joseph Yobo became the new Nigerian World Cup record player. He beat the record of Jay Jay Okocha , which came in 1994, 1998 and 2002 to a total of 9 appearances. In the group game against Argentina, he was the first Nigerian to make his 100th international match . After losing the round of 16, he announced his resignation.

No.	player	society	International matches *	Länderspiel- gates *	Date of birth	Games	Gates				World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2014)	World Cup goals (before 2014)
goalkeeper
21st	Chigozie Agbim	Gombe United	14th	0	Nov 28, 1984	0	0	0	0	0
16	Austin Ejide	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	31	0	0Apr 8, 1984	0	0	0	0	0	2010	0	0
01	Vincent Enyeama	Lille OSC	91	0	Aug 28, 1982	4th	0	0	0	0	2002, 2010	4th	0
Defense
05	Ivy Ambrose	Celtic Glasgow M	37	1	Oct 18, 1988	4th	0	0	0	0
06th	Trainee Egwuekwe	Warri Wolves	31	0	July 16, 1989	0	0	0	0	0
14th	Godfrey Oboabona	Çaykur Rizespor	35	1	16 Sep 1990	1	0	0	0	0
12	Ebenezer Odunlami	Sunshine Stars FC	11	0	Apr 30, 1991	0	0	0	0	0
22nd	Kenneth Omeruo	Middlesbrough FC *	17th	0	Oct 17, 1993	4th	0	1	0	0
13	Juwon Oshaniwa	MS Ashdod	10	0	Sep 14 1990	4th	0	1	0	0
02	Joseph Yobo	Norwich City A	97	7th	06 Sep 1980	4th	0	0	0	0	2002, 2010	6th	0
midfield
15th	Ramon Azeez	UD Almería	2	0	Dec 12, 1992	1	0	0	0	0
04th	Reuben Gabriel	Waasland-Beveren	11	0	25 Sep 1990	1	0	0	0	0
10	John Obi Mikel	Chelsea FC	59	4th	Apr 22, 1987	4th	0	0	0	0
07th	Ahmed Musa	PFK CSKA Moscow M	37	5	Oct 14, 1992	4th	2	0	0	0
17th	Ogenyi Onazi	Lazio Rome	21st	1	Dec 25, 1992	4th	0	0	0	0
03	Ejike Uzoenyi	Enugu Rangers	19th	3	23 Mar 1988	1	0	0	0	0
attack
23	Shola Ameobi	Newcastle United	7th	2	Oct 12, 1981	2	0	0	0	0
18th	Michel Babatunde	Volyn Lutsk	5	0	Dec 24, 1992	2	0	0	0	0
09	Emmanuel Emenike	Fenerbahçe Istanbul M	23	9	May 10, 1987	4th	0	0	0	0
11	Victor Moses	Liverpool FC	22nd	7th	Dec 12, 1990	2	0	0	0	0
19th	Uche Nwofor	SC Heerenveen	6th	3	17 Sep 1991	2	0	0	0	0
08th	Peter Odemwingie	Stoke City	61	10	July 15, 1981	4th	1	0	0	0	2010	2	0
20th	Michael Uchebo	Cercle Bruges	4th	1	0Feb. 2, 1990	1	0	0	0	0
Coaching staff
	Stephen Keshi	Trainer	64	9	January 23, 1962	4th					1994	1	0
	Daniel Amokachi	Assistant coach	44	13	December 30, 1972						1994, 1998	5	2
	Ike Shorunmu	Goalkeeping coach	35	0	October 16, 1967						2002	2	0
(*) only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given. ↑ M = The club became champions of its country in the 2013/14 season, A = The club was relegated from the highest league in the country, A2 = The club was relegated from the second highest league in the country, * = The club plays in the second highest His country's league. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m As a player

preparation

On January 4, Nigeria won a friendly against Ethiopia 2-1 and also met Mali in the preliminary round of the African Nations Cup in January , in which only players who play in the national championships of their home countries were eligible to play on January 11), Mozambique (4: 2 on January 15) and South Africa (3: 1 on January 19), won the quarter-finals on January 25 against Morocco 4: 3 a.d., but then lost in Semi-finals on January 29th against Ghana on penalties with 1: 4, so that the team met Zimbabwe in the game for 3rd place on February 1 and won 1-0.

On March 5, a friendly against Mexico took place in Atlanta , where most of the players from the qualifying squad were used. The game ended 0-0. On May 25, the team moved to a training camp in Houston . From May 27th to June 10th, Nigeria took part in a tournament organized by the MLS in the USA, in which the World Cup participants Bosnia and Herzegovina, world champions Spain, Greece (on June 3rd in Chester : 0-0), the Ivory Coast and Honduras as well as Bolivia and El Salvador participated. There was a game against the USA on June 7th in Jacksonville , which was lost 2-1 (goalscorer for Nigeria: Victor Moses (86th / penalty). Nigeria also played against the Scottish national team on May 28th in London The game ended 2-2 with the goals for Nigeria scored by Michael Uchebo (41st) and Uche Nwofor (90th).

Finals

Group stage

Curitiba Cuiabá Porto Alegre Campinas Brasília

Preliminary round venues (red), round of 16 venue (green) and quarters (blue)

In the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, African champions Nigeria were drawn into Group F with Argentina, World Cup newcomers Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iran. Argentina have already faced three opponents in the preliminary round of the World Cup: 1994, 2002 and 2010 - all three games were lost (first with 1: 2, then twice with 0: 1). There was also an encounter at the King Fahd Cup in 1995 , which ended goalless. In a game they lost 4-1 to Argentina on June 1, 2011 in Abuja , Argentina only used two players from the squad for the 2011 Copa America, which began a month later . After the game, it was reported that there were unusually high stakes on the game and that FIFA was investigating the game. The game is still listed by FIFA. Before the World Cup, Iran faced only one opponent in Hong Kong on January 28, 1998 . The game was won 1-0. No matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina were played until the World Cup. Nigeria did take part in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil , but played elsewhere and not played in any of the three venues before the World Cup.

The team's quarters were the Vitória Hotel Concept Campinas in Campinas .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Argentina	6: 3	9
2	Nigeria	3: 3	4th
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4: 4	3
4th	Iran	1: 4	1

• Mon., June 16, 2014, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. CEST) in Curitiba Iran - Nigeria 0: 0
  
• Sat., June 21, 2014, 6:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Cuiabá Nigeria - Bosnia and Herzegovina 1: 0 (1: 0)
  
• Wed., June 25, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Porto Alegre Nigeria - Argentina 2: 3 (1: 2)
  

Knockout round

• Round of 16: Mon., June 30, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Brasília France - Nigeria 2: 0 (0: 0)

For Nigeria it was the third round of 16 and the first competitive game against France. Previously there was only one friendly game, which was won 1-0 on June 2, 2009 in Saint-Étienne .

After the defeat, coach Stephen Keshi announced his resignation.

Sports impact

In the FIFA world rankings , Nigeria was the only African team to improve significantly, climbing 10 places from 44th to 34th.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ kicker.de: Keshi strokes injured Echiejile (June 8, 2014)
2. ↑ dailymail.co: "Stephen Keshi quits as Nigeria boss while Super Eagles defender Joseph Yobo announces international retirement"
3. ↑ http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/02/33/99/65/fifaworldcup2014-releaselist_neutral.pdf
4. ↑ ORANGE AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP 2014 - MATCHES & RESULTS
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Nigeria in training camp before World Cup in Houston"
6. ↑ "World Champion Spain at a preparatory tournament in the USA"
7. ↑ mlssoccer.com: "World Cup: Major League Soccer to organize Road to Brazil series of international tune-up matches"
8. ↑ scottishfa.co: "Scotland to play Nigeria at Craven Cottage"
9. ↑ handelsblatt.com: FIFA investigates Nigeria-Argentina ( memento of the original from June 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
11. ↑ fifa.com: "After World Cup: Nigeria's trainer Keshi declares resignation" ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ World champion fifa.com: "Germany takes over the top position"

Web links

• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• All qualifying matches in Nigeria