Iran v Nigeria Football Match – 16.06.2014 – Fifa 2014 World Cup Match Preview, Prediction, Tips and Squad Info
Iran v Nigeria Football Match will be played on 16.06.2014 at Estádio Joaquim Américo Guimarães (Curitiba, Paraná) for the Fifa 2014 World Cup Group Stage Match.
The long awaited Fifa 2014 World Cup is just around the corner, many football fans across the world, the players, the staff and literally everyone are looking forward for this competition, because it is held only every 4 years and it is an amazing competition to watch.
Iran National team will start their first group stage match, they are in Group F and their first match will be against Nigeria. Iran have been good recently.
Here are their stats:
| Iran | 4 – 0 | Lebanon |
| Korea Republic | 0 – 1 | Iran |
| Iran | 2 – 1 | Thailand |
| Thailand | 0 – 3 | Iran |
| Lebanon | 1 – 4 | Iran |
| Iran | 3 – 2 | Kuwait |
| Iran | 1 – 2 | Guinea |
| Iran | CANC | Mozambique |
| Iran | 0 – 0 | Belarus |
| Montenegro | 0 – 0 | Iran |
| Iran | 1 – 1 | Angola |
| Trinidad and T… | 0 – 2 | Iran |
As you can clearly see, they have many draws and wins. Lets talk about their loss against Guinea in march this year, they lost 1-2 , which ended there 7 undefeated games, they was supposed to play Mozambique but the match was cancelled. After this match, they drew with Belarus 0-0, Montenegro 0-0, Angola 1-1. They then went on to beat Trinidad and Tobago 0-2 playing away, with an impressive away win. Iran are now full of confidence as they head for their first World Cup match. Iran will be looking to gain the 3 points they need to give pressure on the teams in their group.
Iran key players to look watch out for are: Reza Ghoochannejhad, he is only aged 26 and already scored 10 goals in 14 appearances. Another key player to look out for is Javad Nekounam (Captain), he is the captain of the team and a creative midfielder currently aged 33, he has had the most appearances for his country and has scored 37 goals so far, this will most likely be his last World Cup.
Iran National team are currently ranked in 43rd position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was just updated in June. This is a rather low ranking for them, as last year they were ranked 33rd.
Nigeria National team have been really poor, let me just show you some of their stats and you will see why:
| Nigeria | 2 – 0 | Ethiopia |
| Italy | 2 – 2 | Nigeria |
| Mali | 2 – 1 | Nigeria |
| Nigeria | 4 – 2 | Mozambique |
| Nigeria | 3 – 1 | South Africa |
| Nigeria | E 4 – 3 | Morocco |
| Nigeria | 0 – 0 P | Ghana |
| Zimbabwe | 0 – 1 | Nigeria |
| Mexico | 0 – 0 | Nigeria |
| Nigeria | 2 – 2 | Scotland |
| Greece | 0 – 0 | Nigeria |
| United States | 2 – 1 | Nigeria |
As you can see, Nigeria has had many disappointing results. They had 3 wins in a row, against Mozambique 4-2, South Africa 301 and Morocco 4-3 but this ended with a goalless draw against Ghana, which they lost in a Penalty shoot out. They then played Zimbabwe and beat them 0-1 playing away. after this match they managed 3 draws in a row, Mexico 0-0 goalless draw, Scotland 2-2 and Greece 0-0. They just recently played against United States in a friendly match to prepare for the World Cup and they lost 2-1 playing away. Now they will be playing Iran who is a really strong team this year, so it will be interesting to see how they play.
Nigeria key players to look forward to are: Peter Odemwingie, a forward who is 32 years old and has scored 10 goals in 60 appearances. Another player to look out for is: Victor Moses, who has scored 7 goals in 21 appearances and he is currently age 23, who plays as a midfielder or winger.
Nigeria National team are currently ranked in 44th position in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, which was just updated in June. This is a rather poor ranking for them, as last year, they were 37th.
We predict Nigeria will win this match, but this match should be a tough one.
The match will begin on June 16, 2014 20:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time.
Match Prediction: Nigeria Win. Under 2.5 Goals.