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WC MOTD: Nigeria 0-2 France – Three Thoughts

By on June 30, 2014

While Nigeria held onto a draw at the Estadio do Nacional in Brasilia for over seventy-eight minutes, France scraped away with a 2-0 win via two late goals.  The scoreline hardly tells the story of a tough fought match in which Nigeria had chances to take multiple times, yet France will hardly care – they are into the Quarterfinals of the World Cup with a win.

Les Bleus first and crucial goal seventy-eight minutes in came via a corner, as did any of the French’s chances. While France’s average height among the ten outfield players which were on the pitch for their first goal is only 5.89 Feet, the likes of Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, and Paul Pogba up front in the box during set pieces makes the French very dangerous from them. And they have been underrated in this area – it was their biggest threat against Ecuador in the two side’s 0-0 draw, as well as providing them with their first goal in their win over Switzerland. However, this advantage could be lessened when they face Germany in the Quarterfinals, considering the German’s considerable height at the back in Per Mertesacker, Mats Hummels and more.

France’s first goal also came courtesy of Paul Pogba but Didier Deschamps’ side seem to rely to heavily on the Juventus midfielder to not only bag goals but create chances. Pogba has looked their best source of goals and chances throughout the tournament, yet it if had not been for Pogba tonight France could have easily been on the other end of the scoreline. The midfielder already carries one yellow card into the Germany match, if they advance that could become an issue for France.

Meanwhile, many of Nigeria’s players were born in France. And if Algeria had beaten Germany, then France would face a squad with the majority of its players born in France. This has been a recurring event throughout the tournament – there are more players born in France which are not in the French squad then France-born player in the French squad. However, this means that many of their opponents know the French national team well – we’ll see if this takes affect later on in the tournament, it seemed to have tonight.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.