France vs Nigeria: World Cup 2014 match preview
A look ahead to the second round tie in Brasilia
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Your support makes all the difference.France go into the last-16 clash unbeaten as they topped Group E in relatively simple circumstances. Having opened their account with a 3-0 win over Honduras, a thrilling 5-2 victory over Switzerland was followed by a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, who couldn’t get the victory that would have taken them through to the second round.
Striker Karim Benzema has been in good form so far, netting three goals for his country in what has been an impressive start to the campaign in Brazil. Alongside Mathieu Valbuena and Olivier Giroud, the French will be looking to return to their goalscoring ways that they demonstrated against Honduras and Switzerland.
Nigeria pushed Argentina all the way in their final Group F match, but despite succumbing to a 3-2 defeat, they still progressed to the last-16 as Iran lost out to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ahmed Musa netted twice for Nigeria against the South Americans, and the Super Eagles will look to the CSKA Moscow forward to lead them into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
Whoever triumphs in the Brazilian capital will meet the winner of Germany v Algeria, scheduled to take place later today.
KICK-OFF: Monday, 5pm
PREVIOUS MEETINGS:
France 0 Nigeria 1 (Akpala), June 2009.
STATS:
France had the most attempts on goal in the group stages than any other side with 61 efforts.
France have lost two of their last three World Cup matches against African nations (2002 v Senegal and 2010 v South Africa) although they did beat Togo between these two defeats, in 2006.
Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama had the best goal-to-save ratio of any goalkeeper in the group stages, keeping 18 efforts out and letting in just three – all against Argentina.
Both teams hold a 52% shot-to-goal ratio heading into the match.
TV: Live at 5pm on BBC1
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