FIFA World Cup 2018: Nigeria vs Argentina

It’s safe to say neither team has had a fantastic World Cup, with Argentina only picking up a single point in their games against Iceland and Croatia, whilst Nigeria have fared slightly better with a win over Iceland followed by a defeat to Croatia.

There have been rumours of discontent in the Argentinian camp, with many reports that manager Sampaoli has lost the dressing room  with the Argentinian players allegedly choosing the team for match.

Team News

Nigeria stuck with the 3-5-2 that got them 3 points against Iceland in their last game and make no changes in the lineup. The 3 at the back along with John Obi Mikel and the tough tackling Wilfred Ndidi should provide defensive stability, whilst the pace of Iheanacho and Musa up front is enough to trouble most defences.

Argentina make x changes from the team that lost 3-0 to Croatia, switching from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-4-2 (despite what the picture above says!) with goalkeeper Caballero being replaced by Franco Armani, with Marcos Acuna, Eduardo Salvio, Maximiliano Meza and Sergio Aguero also dropped to the bench with Marcos Rojo, Ever Banega, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria replacing them.

Both Teams Struggle To Create Chances

Both teams really struggled to create any meaningful chances, with the goals coming from a penalty, a Messi wonder-goal and a cross to Rojo when Argentina had flooded the Nigerian box with players in the dying minutes of the game. Before Rojos winner though, Argentina had really struggled to work the ball up the pitch  shown by Higuain touching the ball just 28 times over the course of 90 minutes.