Confident Looking Nigeria Aim for World Cup Victory

Confident Looking Nigeria Aim for World Cup Victory

📅19 May 2014, 08:03

Nigeria has taken part in four previous World Cups but hasn’t made it past the Group Stage since 1998. In 2010 and 2002 the team finished fourth in its group and it hasn’t won a world cup match since 1998. However, the team won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and has been looking much stronger in recent times and will be hoping to at least make it to the Round of 16 in this year’s tournament.

Style

Coach Stephen Keshi normally plays the team in 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation. They have a free flowing style with lots of passing in midfield and also strong dribbling. In recent years the team has moved away from the wide 4-4-2 style which made maximum use of the wings. Instead it now focuses on attacking in the middle and not relying on its wingers as it did in the 1990s.

Strengths

Nigeria scored consistently throughout qualifying. It scored in every single match and made good use of free kicks. The team showed that it can attack right until the end with nearly two thirds of goals coming in the last 15 minutes of games. Impressively the team was also not put off if it fell behind and regularly came back to win.

Weaknesses

The team didn’t concede often during qualifying, but when it did half of the goals were long-range efforts. Furthermore, while the team scored regularly, it averaged just 1.38 goals per match, all of which came fairly late into games.

The team is also having problems with the country’s Football Association. While Coach Stephen Keshi led the side to victory in the African Cup of Nations, the Nigerian Football Association claim he has a lack of experience and there is a chance he could lose his job.

World Cup Group Stage