Same faces for Nigeria’s upcoming friendlies

Nigeria’s preparations for the 2018 World Cup to be hosted by Russia in June and July are truly underway as the country is set to take on Serbia and Poland during the March international break. From the look of things, the same faces Nigerian fans have become accustomed to will feature at these pre-World Cup friendlies. This is the perfect opportunity for online betting on the national teams.

Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has already sent out invitations to the players he is looking at. Information gathered by this site shows that there aren’t any new faces to look forward to. This is particularly puzzling as there have been many outstanding emerging talents both on the local scene and internationally. This would have been the chance for Rohr to see how the new talents compare to the tried and tested before he finalises his squad for the journey to Russia in June. However, it maybe that Rohr currently favours stability more than anything else as he goes into a major tournament and as such would like to work with the players he already knows.

The usual suspects have of course received their invitations as confirmed by the Nigeria Football Federation and these include Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Victor Moses (Chelsea), and Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City among others. The one selection that has caused some debate in football circles has been the invitation of Porto loanee, Chidozie Awaziem. The Nantes player hasn’t featured for the club in a competitive match since January 17 against Toulouse after he suffered a thigh injury. This comes as a surprise considering that Hapoel Beer Sheva player Anthony Nwakaeme has been at the top of his game in recent months.

Nigeria will play their first match of the 2018 World Cup against Croatia on 16 June that will be followed by a match against Iceland on 22 June and a date against Argentina on 26 June. Nigeria is not necessarily in a group of death but will have to perform superbly in all three matches if they are to have any chance of progressing to the last 16. The first match against Croatia will be a must-win match for Nigeria as they need to put points on the board as soon as the first match. It will not be easy however as Croatia is a team that boasts of some of the world’s best players. In their ranks, they have the duo of Real Madrid midfielders Luka Modric and Mateo Kovavic and they also have the pace and trickery of Ivan Perisic, one of the most wanted man in world football.

On paper, the second match against Iceland is probably the easiest but as was seen during the recent UEFA Euro tournament, Iceland is no small team. Iceland reached the quarter finals beating England on the way showing how good they are as a team and Argentina, well we all know how Lionel Messi single handily took Argentina to the World Cup Finals.

The Super Eagles will depart for Serbia on March 24 where they will play Serbia at the Hive Stadium.