Our football match prediction:
Nigeria
Match Time & Date:
22/06/2018
16:00 GMT
Prediction: 1-1
Iceland
Nigeria will be looking to bounce back from a 2-0 loss to Croatia when they take on Iceland in their second group game at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. The Super Eagles failed to create a descent opportunity to score in their opener and, no doubt, they face a difficult task in Friday’s football match against Iceland. The Icelanders did well to hold star-studded Argentina to a draw in the opening match of their World Cup campaign and, as a result, they stayed in the race for a place in the knockout stages. Iceland are more of a team than Nigeria and we predict that Gylfi Sigurdsson and Co. are going to pick up all three points from their second group game. A man to watch in the African side will be Chelsea Victor Moses, who could prove a handful for the opposition defenders.
Highlighted Player (Alex Iwobi):
Alex Iwobi is one of the most talented African footballers. The Nigerian football player was born in Lagos on May 3, 1996, but he moved to Arsenal at the age of 8. In 2015 he made his first-team debut for the Gunners, starting in a 3-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup. Speaking of his Premier League debut, Alex Iwobi played his first game for Arsenal in a 3-0 victory over Swansea City in October, 2015. The pacey winger played for England at youth level, but he eventually went on to play for Nigeria. Iwobi made his senior debut with the Super Eagles on October 8, 2015, coming as a substitute for Ahmed Musa in a 2-0 loss to DR Congo. On October 7, 2017 the Arsenal footballer scored the winner for Nigeria against Zambia (1-0) which helped the Super Eagles book their place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. Speaking of his individual trophies, Alex Iwobi was named CAF Young Player of the Year 2016.
Highlighted Team (Iceland):
Iceland had little to no success during the first 60 years of entering the FIFA competitions, failing to qualify to a single major tournament in that period, but the team then went on to make tremendous progress at the start of the 21st century. The Nordic side narrowly missed out on a place at the 2014 World Cup, losing in the play-off to Croatia, but they then enjoyed a thoroughly impressive qualifying campaign to reach the Euro 2016 finals, taking 20 points from 10 matches to leave Turkey and Netherlands trailing in their wake. As a result, the generation featuring players like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Aron Gunnarsson, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Emil Hallfredsson will go down as one of the most successful in the national team history and it could be quite some time before another team repeat their success. Even if he was only used as a bit-part player during the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Eidur Gudjohnsen has got to be mentioned as the first Icelandic footballer to have played for top European sides.
