In nature, the eagles are considered kings of the skies. Only the lions, who are generally referred to as kings of the animals, stand above it. On Saturday, this balance of power is put to the test, at least on the green grass. Then, at London’s Wembley Stadium, the Three Lions from England will face the Super Eagles from Nigeria. Of course, England is a favorite in his home living room, but Nigeria will take full advantage of the test just before the World Cup. Finally, the Africans did not catch a simple group at the finals in Russia. A positive result in London would certainly give the Nigerian vote a certain amount of self-confidence.
England:
Once again, England has played at least a point-successful qualification. With eight wins and two draws, the Three Lions remained unbeaten. In their own country, coach Gareth Southgate’s team have won all five qualifiers. However, it was particularly noticeable that England, despite opponents such as Malta and Lithuania after ten matchdays only brought 18 goals. That does not even average two goals per match. But six goals, which is not much, the English shot in the two games against the Maltese. England scored just 12 goals in the remaining 12 games, averaging exactly 1.5 goals per match. But whoever is confident in the back, the front just sometimes only one goal. Because in their ten qualifiers, the Three Lions have caught only three goals.
The group was not the strongest with their opponents Slovenia, Scotland and Slovakia, but England conceded no goals in their three friendly matches after qualifying against Germany, Brazil and the Netherlands. Only in the last test against Italy, there was the first goal in the 1-1 after five previous games without. From Germany and Brazil, the English had scored a goalless, against the Netherlands were able to win Harry Kane and Co. 1-0. Also in these results, the apparently not so strong assertiveness in the offensive becomes clear. In their last six games against Slovenia, Lithuania, Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands and Italy, England never scored more than two goals and scored only four goals.
Nigeria:
Nigeria with its German coach Gernot Rohr qualified for the fifth time for a World Cup. It is also the third participation in a World Cup finals in a row. In Group B qualifying in Africa, the Super Eagles prevailed against Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia. Nigeria remained undefeated. Overall, there were four wins and only in the away games in Cameroon and the last insignificant day in Algeria each a draw. In the end, Nigeria had six points ahead of Zambia after six games. Overall, Nigeria scored twelve goals in these six games and conceded only four. Also after the qualification Nigeria remained successful. In the African Nations Cup, the Super Eagles reached the final, but there were clearly defeated Morocco with 0: 4. That was in early April this year.
Thereafter, further success stories largely remained. It was still a 1-0 victory in a test in Poland, as Nigeria met with the only shot at the opponent’s goal also. As a result, however, Nigeria lost 2-0 against Serbia and 2-2 at Atletico Madrid two days after the end of the season in Spanish La Liga! Against the Democratic Republic of Congo, it was then in the last test on last Monday only to a 1: 1. If the Super Eagles want to repeat the success of the 2014 World Cup and reach the minimum goal of the knockout round, they will probably have to go two shots in a group with Croatia, Iceland and Argentina.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.53
