Preview - Croatia v Nigeria
Game 2 preview: Croatia v Nigeria
Kaliningrad Stadium
Sat 16th June at 2000 BST
Both teams will be hopeful of progressing and the two sides have not met in any competition before. Croatia have not kept a clean sheet in 9 games out of their last 11 while Nigeria have only one won game in their last 12 World Cup matches.
As Argentina could only manage a 1-1 draw against a determined Iceland side, both Croatia and Nigeria will be hoping to do better and finish the day top of the group. Group D was considered to be a Group of Death but the draw earlier in the day no longer means so much a Group of Death as a Group of Mild Peril.
Interesting factoids: sadly, there are no really fun factoids such as players nearly killing themselves with their own vehicles or packing salt in factories, etc., but footballing stats include Croatia finishing third in the 1998 World Cup - in their first tournament as an independent nation, following the horrific and vicious civil war in the Balkans. This is Nigeria’s sixth World Cup since they first qualified for the tournament in 1994, although they didn’t qualify in 2006. Neither Croatia or Nigeria have previously met in any competition.
I think Croatia will have too much for Nigeria although I thought that about Argentina v Iceland earlier and look how that turned out!
Kaliningrad Stadium
Sat 16th June at 2000 BST
Both teams will be hopeful of progressing and the two sides have not met in any competition before. Croatia have not kept a clean sheet in 9 games out of their last 11 while Nigeria have only one won game in their last 12 World Cup matches.
As Argentina could only manage a 1-1 draw against a determined Iceland side, both Croatia and Nigeria will be hoping to do better and finish the day top of the group. Group D was considered to be a Group of Death but the draw earlier in the day no longer means so much a Group of Death as a Group of Mild Peril.
Interesting factoids: sadly, there are no really fun factoids such as players nearly killing themselves with their own vehicles or packing salt in factories, etc., but footballing stats include Croatia finishing third in the 1998 World Cup - in their first tournament as an independent nation, following the horrific and vicious civil war in the Balkans. This is Nigeria’s sixth World Cup since they first qualified for the tournament in 1994, although they didn’t qualify in 2006. Neither Croatia or Nigeria have previously met in any competition.
I think Croatia will have too much for Nigeria although I thought that about Argentina v Iceland earlier and look how that turned out!
