Football World Cup 2018 / Nigeria

Football World Cup 2018 : Nigeria
Trainer	Gernot pipe
captain	John Obi Mikel
Qualified as	Winner Africa Group B
World rankings before the tournament	48
Tournament result	Out after the preliminary round
Games won	1
Games tie	0
Games lost	2
Gates	3: 4

This article covers the Nigerian national soccer team at the 2018 World Cup . Nigeria took part in the finals for the sixth time and has only been absent from the 2006 World Cup since it first appeared in 1994, but has never made it further than the round of 16.

qualification

Victor Moses, top Nigerian qualifying scorer

The team qualified for the World Cup in Russia through the qualifying matches of the African Football Association CAF .

Games

Nigeria began qualifying under Sunday Oliseh and only had to intervene in the second round . The team met Swaziland in a return leg in November 2015 . After a goalless draw in the away game, the third round was reached with a 2-0 home win. In January 2016, Oliseh announced his resignation due to a lack of salary payments. His successor was to be Paul Le Guen , but ultimately no collaboration was possible. In August 2016, Gernot Rohr became the national coach of the Nigerians, who had meanwhile failed to qualify for the 2017 African Championship . He went into the group stage of the third round, where Nigeria met Algeria , Cameroon and Zambia in Group B, the only African group with three former World Cup participants . In the six resulting matches, the Nigerian team won four and played twice. The Nigerians scored at least one goal in all games. As group winners, the Nigerians qualified as the first African team on the penultimate matchday with a 1-0 win over Zambia. The decisive goal was scored by Alex Iwobi , who was only substituted in the 65th minute, eight minutes after being substituted on.

A total of 34 players were used, of which 12 only played one. Three goalkeepers were used. In the second round and in the first game of the third round Carl Ikeme was in goal, then Daniel Akpeyi for one game and Ikechukwu Ezenwa for the remaining four games . Abdullahi Shehu was the only player to appear in all eight games, although he was suspended for the last game. He was also only substituted on twice. Only in the last game, which was no longer decisive for qualification, Ogenyi Onazi and Elderson Echiéjilé , who had played the first seven games, were dispensed with. The top scorer was Victor Moses with three goals. A total of eight players contributed at least one goal.

Second round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goalscorers for Nigeria
Nov 13, 2015	Lobamba	Swaziland	-	Nigeria	0-0
Nov 17, 2015	Port Harcourt	Nigeria	-	Swaziland	2: 0 (0: 0)	Moses Simon (51.), Efe Ambrose (86.)

Third round

date	Venue	host		guest	Result	Goalscorers for Nigeria
10/09/2016	Ndola	Zambia	-	Nigeria	1: 2 (0: 2)	Alex Iwobi (33.), Kelechi Iheanacho (43.)
11/12/2016	Uyo	Nigeria	-	Algeria	3: 1 (2: 0)	Victor Moses (24th, 90th + 1), John Obi Mikel (41st)
09/01/2017	Uyo	Nigeria	-	Cameroon	4: 0 (2: 0)	Odion Ighalo (29th), John Obi Mikel (43th), Victor Moses (56th), Kelechi Iheanacho (76th)
04.09.2017	Yaoundé	Cameroon	-	Nigeria	1: 1 (0: 1)	Moses Simon (30.)
07.10.2017	Uyo	Nigeria	-	Zambia	1: 0 (0: 0)	Alex Iwobi (73.)
11/10/2017	Constantine	Algeria	-	Nigeria	3-0	John Ogu (62nd)

Third round final table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Nigeria	6th	4th	1	1	011: 600	+5	13
2.	Zambia	6th	2	2	2	008: 700	+1	08th
3.	Cameroon	6th	1	4th	1	007: 900	−2	07th
4th	Algeria	6th	1	1	4th	006:100	−4	04th

preparation

Games

date	Result	opponent	venue	Goalscorers for Nigeria
November 14, 2017	4: 2 (1: 2)	Argentina	Krasnodar ( RUS )	Kelechi Iheanacho (44th), Alex Iwobi (52nd, 73rd), Brian Idowu (54th)
15th January 2018	0-0	Rwanda	Tangier ( MAR )
19th January 2018	1-0	Libya	Tangier ( MAR )	Sunday Faleye (79th)
23rd January 2018	3: 1	Equatorial Guinea	Tangier ( MAR )	Anthony Okpotu (58th), Ojo Solomon (69th), Rabiu Ali (83th / penalty)
January 28, 2018	2: 1 a.d.	Angola	Tangier ( MAR )	Anthony Okpotu (90th + 1), Gabriel Okechukwu (109th)
January 31, 2018	1-0	Sudan	Marrakech ( MAR )	Gabriel Okechukwu (16.)
4th February 2018	0: 4	Morocco	Casablanca ( MAR )
23 March 2018	1-0	Poland	Wroclaw	Victor Moses (61st / penalty)
March 27, 2018	0: 2	Serbia	London ( GBR )
May 25, 2018	1: 1	Democratic Republic of Congo	Port Harcourt	William Troost-Ekong (15th)
2nd June 2018	1: 2	England	London	Alex Iwobi (47.)
June 6, 2018	0: 1	Czech Republic	Schwechat ( AUT )

Remarks:

Teams in italics are not qualified for the World Cup.

Only players from the domestic leagues were allowed to play in the games in January / February as part of the African Nations Cup . Of the players who were used in the World Cup qualifiers, only goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa was used in the first five games. The final opponent Morocco used three players from the squad for the World Cup qualifiers.

Quarter

Team Quarter was the "Sanatorium Istochnik" in Yessentuki , where the team could use the Yessentuki Arena for training purposes.

Squad

The provisional squad was named on May 14, 2018. The squad, reduced to 23 players, was named on June 3rd. Were canceled Uche Agbo , Mikel Agu , Ola Aina , Oladele Ajiboye , Stephen Eze , Junior Lokosa and Moses Simon .

position	No.	Surname	birth date	Calls	Gates	society	debut	Last use						World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2018)	World Cup goals (before 2018)
goal	16	Daniel Akpeyi	08/03/1986	7th	0	Chippa United FC	2015	11/14/2017
	01	Ikechukwu Ezenwa	10/16/1988	24	0	Enyimba FC	2015	January 31, 2018
	23	Francis Uzoho	10/28/1998	6th	0	Deportivo La Coruña ↓	2017	06/06/2018	3
Defense	20th	Chidozie Awaziem	01/01/1997	4th	0	FC Nantes	2017	03/27/2018
	06th	Leon Balogun	06/28/1988	19th	0	1. FSV Mainz 05	2014	06/06/2018	3		1
	21st	Tyronne Ebuehi	December 16, 1995	7th	0	ADO The Hague	2017	06/06/2018	1
	03	Elderson Echiéjilé	01/20/1988	62	3	Cercle Bruges ↑	2010	06/06/2018						2010	2	0
	02	Brian Idowu	05/18/1992	5	1	Amkar Perm R	2017	06/06/2018	3		1
	22nd	Kenneth Omeruo	10/17/1993	39	0	Kasımpaşa Istanbul	2013	02.06.2018	2					2014	4th
	12	Abdullahi Shehu	03/12/1993	26th	0	Bursaspor	2014	06/06/2018	1
	05	William Troost-Ekong	09/01/1993	22nd	1	Bursaspor	2015	06/06/2018	3		1
midfield	08th	Oghenekaro Etebo	11/09/1995	14th	1	UD Las Palmas ↓	2016	02.06.2018	3
	10	John Obi Mikel	04/22/1987	85	6th	Tianjin Teda	2005	06/06/2018	3		1			2014	4th	0
	04th	Wilfred Ndidi	12/16/1996	17th	0	Leicester City	2015	06/06/2018	3
	15th	Joel Obi	05/22/1991	17th	0	Torino FC	2011	02.06.2018
	19th	John Ogu	04/20/1988	20th	2	Hapoel Beer Sheva M.	2013	06/06/2018
	17th	Ogenyi Onazi	December 25, 1992	52	1	Trabzonspor	2012	02.06.2018						2014	4th	0
Storm	09	Odion Ighalo	06/16/1989	19th	4th	Changchun Yatai	2015	06/06/2018	3
	14th	Kelechi Iheanacho	10/03/1996	18th	8th	Leicester City	2015	06/06/2018	3
	18th	Alex Iwobi	05/03/1996	18th	5	Arsenal FC	2015	06/06/2018	3
	11	Victor Moses	12/12/1990	35	11	Chelsea FC P	2012	06/06/2018	3	1				2014	2	0
	07th	Ahmed Musa	10/14/1992	72	13	CSKA Moscow	2010	06/06/2018	3	2				2014	4th	2
	13	Simy	05/07/1992	2	0	FC Crotone ↓	2018	06/06/2018	2
Coaching staff	Trainer	Gernot pipe	06/28/1953				2016		3
↑ Numbers according to the official squad list ↑ Sources: rsssf.com: Nigeria - Record International Players , soccerway.com: Nigeria , Kicker-Sonderheft WM 2018 (status: May 20, 2018), updated after the game against the Czech Republic on June 6, 2018. ↑ Clubs in italics play in the season before or during the World Cup in the 2nd division of their country, M = champions in the World Cup year, P = cup winners in the World Cup year, ↑ = club plays in the 1st division in the next season , ↓ = club will play in the second league next season, R = club was able to avoid relegation

Finals

Group draw

St. Petersburg Volgograd Kaliningrad Essentuki

Venues and quarters (blue / italic) of the Nigerian team

For the draw of the qualifying groups on December 1st, Nigeria was assigned to Pot 4. In Group D, Nigeria met vice world champions Argentina, Croatia and newcomer Iceland . Nigeria met Argentina in the preliminary rounds in 1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014, with the Nigerians losing by one goal each. With the fifth preliminary round meeting in 2018, this became the most common preliminary round pairing. There was also a goalless draw at the 1995 King Fahd Cup , two wins - most recently on November 14, 2017, when Argentina competed without Lionel Messi - and one defeat in friendly matches. Against Iceland there was a 3-0 defeat in Reykjavík in 1981 . The Nigerians, on the other hand, had never played against Croatia.

Nigeria had not previously played in any of the three preliminary round venues. Krasnodar, where the Nigerians played against Argentina on November 14, has been removed from the provisional list of World Cup venues.

Group stage / group D matches

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2018 / Group D

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Croatia	3	3	0	0	007: 100	+6	09
2.	Argentina	3	1	1	1	003: 500	−2	04th
3.	Nigeria	3	1	0	2	003: 400	−1	03
4th	Iceland	3	0	1	2	002: 500	−3	01

Saturday, June 16, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (CEST) in Kaliningrad
Croatia	-	Nigeria	2: 0 (1: 0)	32. ′ Etebo
Fri., June 22, 2018, 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. CEST) in Volgograd
Nigeria	-	Iceland	2: 0 (0: 0)	49 ', 75 ′ Musa
Tue., June 26, 2018, 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. CEST) in Saint Petersburg
Nigeria	-	Argentina	1: 2 (0: 1)	51 ′ / penalty Moses

Individual evidence

1. ^ Announcement , Sunday Oliseh's Twitter account, accessed on February 26, 2016
2. ^ Sport.de: Le Guen new national coach of Nigeria
3. ↑ sport.de: "Le Guen: But no job in Nigeria"
4. ↑ punchng.com: "BREAKING: NFF picks Gernot Rohr as Super Eagles coach"
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Nigeria will be the first team from Africa"
6. ↑ Since the Nigerians had used Abdullahi Shehu , who was suspended because of the second yellow card received in the game, the original 1-1 was converted into a 3-0 win for Algeria on December 12, 2017. (Source: Latest decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee )
7. ↑ Use statistics from Ikechukwu Ezenwa
8. ↑ fifa.com: 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - Team Base Camps
9. ↑ thenff.com: "Russia 2018: Rohr names Mikel, Moses, Musa, 27 others in Nigeria's provisional list"
10. ↑ kicker.de: Balogun is going to the World Cup with Nigeria