Nigeria take on world and European Champions Spain in their final group B match

Spain will come into this tournament as the favorite, having won the last two Euro tournaments and the 2010 World Cup. Led by world-class talents such as Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique, the Spaniards are the most technically skilled team in the world and are certain to be feared.

Style and tactics

Stephen Keshi is a coach who employed width to win the 2013 African Nations Cup. In a game like this, the wings are likely to be clipped, as those out wide cannot be expected to see much of the ball when Spain are dominating possession. It is in Nigeria's nature to be attacking, but their best work will be needed in defence. The type of defending that let in Uruguay's Diego Forlan to score from the left-hand flank must be avoided. John Obi Mikel's goal in that game reflected a far less rigid role than that he plays for Chelsea.

Even in the midst of a 10-0 win, there were grounds for unhappiness in the Spanish ranks. They went in at half-time leading 4-0, but they had played poorly, and their possession percentage was well below the expected 90%. Credit here to Tahiti, and perhaps acknowledgement of the curious difficulty of facing a team of such a differing standard, but very little could be gleaned from that performance. Xavi and Andres Iniesta may continue to be rested here, but will be back for the semi-finals.

Players to watch

John Obi Mikel has never scored a Premier League goal for Chelsea, but it is forgotten he was signed back in 2006 as an all-action midfielder who presented a goal threat. Against Uruguay, the centre-circle specialist became a Nigerian Steven Gerrard and scored a well-taken goal too. A shop window to a different Mikel? Perhaps. Celtic's Efe Ambrose might be lucky to be in Keshi's selection as his defending has reminded of his absent-minded performance against Juventus. Brown Ideye, erratic against Uruguay, is likely to lead the line in the absence of Nnamdi Oduamadi.

Perhaps Vicente Del Bosque will mix and match his first-choice XI and that which played against Tahiti. It was very difficult to draw conclusions from the cake walk in Rio De Janeiro. Despite Villa and Torres' goal glut, perhaps Roberto Soldado will play. One goal against Uruguay is probably worth three or so against Tahiti. In the wake of the news about Carles Puyol's potentially career-ending knee problem, one area to work on is central defence. The partnership of Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique is expected to return, but perhaps better than Raul Albiol is needed in reserve.

If you think Nigeria will win like this post

If you think Spain will win like this post

Naija all the way.

I pray naija wins.anything can happen in football.

With Torres in front we'd definitely have a clean sheet. I was really happy when I heard he got a call up

We need to go out there and dominate them on that pitch. Don't show them any unnecessary respect. If we adopt that attitude we could beat them.

is this thread not a bit early to be created?

I see a tough encounter, with Spain narrowly escaping with a 1-0 or 2-1 margin.

After all, the Catalunya we played 1-1 with last year consisted of Xavi, Ramos and other key members of Spanish national team.

^
Ramos was not there. Perhaps you're mistaking Pique for Ramos.

However, I believe it's going to be a close call. Nigeria will have to depend on Fegur Ogunde who is a hard tackler in the absence of Onazi. We might concede a red card.

Pls,which nigerian station wil televise these matches live?

The match will End in a Goal-less Draw. UP SUPER EAGLES

olumaxi: Pls,which nigerian station wil televise these matches live?

all normal tv station go show am!
U nor get dstv? If yes SSselect,SS3,SS3Ni,SS7,SS7Ni and SS5 go show am!!!

Spain 2 - Nigeria 3
mata 15' ................. oduamadi 20'
villa 60' .................. mikel 67'
.......................... Mba 90'

Just like 98' Nigeria will come from behind twice to win the game through a Sunday's bullet. This time mba the elephant killer not oliseh.
[img]http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR8kVtbJ6W3vumUUz6bdW-qsAIe4jRMHX7t3i13L9iTc1ieJTgjLQ[/img]

lucenzo: Spain 2 - Nigeria 3
mata 15' ................. oduamadi 20'
villa 60' .................. mikel 67'
.......................... Mba 90'

Just like 98' Nigeria will come from behind twice to win the game through a Sunday's bullet. This time mba the elephant killer not oliseh.
[img]http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR8kVtbJ6W3vumUUz6bdW-qsAIe4jRMHX7t3i13L9iTc1ieJTgjLQ[/img]

mikel? make we de hope na

Nigeria is winning by 2-0.

Make I Book Space!!

No Moses?? No Osaze?? No Emenike?? Ds gon' be a tough shi' for us tho!!

The best pattern Nigeria can play vs Spain is shown below

or Like these below

Spain is definitely gonna kick asss

Nigeria go beat spain
2-1

younglad007: Nigeria go beat spain
2-1

UP EAGLES !!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE GO BEAT SPAIN

We have done it before. We can do it again!

hit like if u [font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]belìve we can match spain in match

dayokanu: The best pattern Nigeria can play vs Spain is shown below

dayokanu: or Like these below

bin gbagbo:

Our whole future in the confed depends solely on if we beat uruguay or not. spain's game win or lose wudnt matter then if we beat uruguay tmro

Lett's finish with uruguay fest

Mikel was just too slow today, he dulled our counter-attacks, ideye is a non-entity, he wasn't impressive at all, Musa plays and thinks with his manliness and not his head, he would loose possesion where he shouldn't at all, those them babatunde, Obu abi na Ugo, are not even up to average players. We played better, we possessed them, but those players listed up there spoilt our game. Ambrose, Echeijile, Obabona, Omuro and Mba only played well tonight.

Am sorry, all you hopefuls, we cannot go past this stage, it is simply IMPOSSI-CANT. Forget any calculations cos even if we beat Spain, Uruguay will kill Taiti.