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FIFA World Cup Betting: The Super Eagles are looking to build off of a great performance at the African Cup of Nations. After opening the tournament with a 0-0 draw against Rwanda, Nigeria rolled off four straight wins to make it to the final against Morocco. A Peter Moses red card just before halftime led to Nigeria getting steamrolled, but their performance in the tournament prior to that bodes well for their young players having success at the World Cup.
Nigeria has been seen as one of the sleeping giants of soccer ever since it won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. With the largest population in Africa, and an immense pool of talent to draw from, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the country breaks through.
Once every four years, the world's most popular game has its biggest tournament. The World Cup is as big as it gets all over the world, especially for the 32 countries who have earned the right to partake in this tournament. We think of the World Cup as a four-week tournament in June and July every few years, but this is actually a tournament where every FIFA team in the world has a chance to make it to the big stage.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia will begin on Thursday, June 14 and run through the final on Sunday, July 15. All of the action can be seen on FOX, FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2.
Nigeria Betting Odds
Odds on Nigeria to win Group D: +950
Odds on Nigeria to win 2018 World Cup: +20000
Matches
Nigeria vs. Croatia, Saturday, June 16, 2018, 3 p.m. ET Kaliningrad Stadium (Kaliningrad)
Nigeria vs. Iceland, Friday, June 22, 2018, 11 a.m. ET Volgograd Arena (Volgograd)
Nigeria vs. Argentina, Tuesday, June 26, 2018, 2 p.m. ET Zenit Arena (St. Petersburg)
Manager
Gernot Rohr
History at the World Cup
This is the sixth time that Nigeria has made the World Cup, and the Green Eagles have had a decent amount of success. They made it out of the knockout stages in their first two appearances in 1994 and 1998, and did so again at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. However, they have yet to advance further, getting bounced by a European side before the Quarterfinals in each of those three appearances. Their greatest success ever came when they knocked off Spain in the Group Stage back in 1998.
Player to Watch
If Nigeria is going to have success at the World Cup, some of their young, talented players will need to emerge. Chief among those is Alex Iwobi. Iwobi burst onto the scene with Arsenal as a teenager, looking like a star in the making. He showed an explosive first touch and created multiple opportunities for his teammates, earning himself a spot in the first team.
Unfortunately, over the past two seasons, Iwobi has not continued to develop. It’s been a frustrating situation for Arsenal, who see his talent, but that hasn’t transferred into success on the pitch.
Iwobi showed his potential in a friendly against Argentina back in November. With Argentina leading 2-0 at halftime, Iwobi had an incredible second half, notching a brace to help lead Nigeria to four goals in the second half. It’s this Iwobi that needs to show up for the Green Eagles in Russia.
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