Like their four African counterparts, Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup campaign failed to survive the group stages.
Gernot Rohr’s wards compromised their chances of progress with a lethargic opening day defeat to Croatia, but they then rallied to a stirring 2-0 win over Iceland — a team that England, Portugal and Argentina had struggled to beat in recent times.
Even in defeat to Argentina in the final group game, the Super Eagles still showed what they are capable of, and if they had only taken their chances, the dream could still very much be alive.
Here are five players who stood out in Nigeria’s roller-coaster campaign.
Francis Uzoho
At 19, with less than five international appearances under his belt, and even less at senior club level, Uzoho was as rookie as rookie gets. In expectation of throwing him into the World Cup fray, Rohr sent goalkeeper trainer Enrico Pionetti to work with the youngster during the course of the season, and let him play in goal through all the preparatory games.
Even then, there was still some apprehension about how this teenager would fare against some of the best forwards in world football.
In the end, he handled himself admirably, did not make an significant error of note, and actually made at least three key saves; two of them against Argentina, including one when Gonzalo Higuain was through on goal, and a fingertip to divert Lionel Messi’s free-kick onto the post.
If there is one thing the young goalkeeper needs to work on, it would be his distribution. He completed just over 48 percent of his passes.
But one thing is clear, Rohr has unearthed a gem in Uzoho. Now, the Aspire Academy graduate just needs to find a team in Europe that will guarantee him regular playing time, and continue working on his game. As it stands, the Super Eagles number one shirt is off the market.
Kenneth Omeruo
Left to Nigeria fans, Kenneth Omeruo would have been watching the World Cup from a beach somewhere.
Once heralded as the next big thing, Omeruo made an early international debut, then proceeded to rack up more caps in three years than most Nigeria players of legendary status before him.
However, his career hit a bad patch two years ago and he struggled to dig himself out of the rut. But dig he did. Omeruo’s confidence may have flagged at some point, but his basic tools remained and his talent did not wane. Instead, he continued to hone his craft in Turkey, and by the time the World Cup rolled around, the 25-year-old was like a finely tuned machine just revving to go.
All of that hard work showed in the games against Iceland and then Argentina, where he mostly smothered Messi, bar one moment when the little genius got away from him to score a goal that few defenders in the world could have stopped.
With Rohr now effectively settled on a back three, Omeruo’s pace and aerial strength should be a critical part of Nigeria’s defence going forward.
Ahmed Musa
Like Omeruo, Musa had been written off by Super Eagles fans and media alike, with many questioning why and how he even made the World Cup squad.
By far the biggest grouse about Musa’s style was his inability to cross a football, something that had been a staple of Nigerian wingers and which players like Adokiye Amiesimaka, Finidi George and Emmanuel Amunike excelled at. Even in the national team, Musa’s stock had plummeted to the point where he was third in line behind Moses Simon and Alex Iwobi.
But the forward re-announced himself with two strikes against Iceland, goals which reignited the Super Eagles’ World Cup ambitions, and leading to posters of “Ahmed Musa for President” back home in Nigeria.
Tyronne Ebuehi
Millions of Nigerian fans had no clue who Tyronne Ebuehi was before the World Cup. There are millions still who will be unable to tell Ebuehi from Adam if he were to cross the street in front of them. But one thing they will recognise is his name.
The defender not only excelled in the warm-up matches, but came on for just one game at the World Cup — against Iceland — and warmed his way into the hearts of Nigerians with his positive play.
Ebuehi’s 45 minutes included completing 21 of 22 passes, a 95.5 percent average, and winning all four of the tackles he attempted, not to mention creating two chances.
It was enough to get Rohr pilloried for not bringing him on to batten down the hatches against Argentina. And what’s more, he can play as both right- and left-back.
Oghenekaro Etebo
If there is one player who should be voted Most valuable Player (MVP) of Nigeria’s World Cup campaign, Etebo would be it.
After Ogenyi Onazi lost his place in a first half horror show against England at Wembley, Etebo was thrown in at half-time and has never looked back.
He was a rare bright spot in the defeat to Croatia, and was one of the star men in both the victory against Iceland, and the heartbreaking loss to Argentina.
He has surely sealed his place in that three-man midfield that Rohr is so enamoured with, whether he goes with three at the back or four.
Did You Know?
- Sweden has won each of their last three World Cup matches when level at half-time, whereas Switzerland is winless in their last three such games in the competition (D1 L2).
- This will be Sweden’s 50th game at the World Cup finals; only Mexico (57) have played more without ever winning the competition.
- England beat Colombia in their only previous World Cup encounter thanks to goals from Darren Anderton and David Beckham (2-0), it was in the group stages of the 1998 tournament.
- Belgium are the first team to come from 2+ goals down to win a World Cup knockout round match within 90 minutes since Portugal beat DPR Korea 5-3 in the 1966 quarter-final. Eusebio.
- The last team to come from two goals down to win a World Cup knockout round match were Germany against England in 1970.
- This is Japan’s highest ever goal tally in a single World Cup tournament.
- Genki Haraguchi’s goal was Japan’s first ever in the World Cup knockout rounds.
- Belgium have had 26 touches in the opposition box during the first half against Japan (the most by a team before half-time in a game at the 2018 World Cup), but they have only attempted two shots on target.
- Belgium have made 10 changes to their starting line-up against Japan – the most in a World Cup match since Spain v Saudi Arabia in World Cup 2006 (11 changes for Spain).
- Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made eight saves today versus Brazil; the only player to have attempted more within 90 minutes at the 2018 World Cup is Ochoa himself, making nine saves vs Germany.
- Mexico have now been eliminated from the World Cup at the Last 16 stage in each of the last seven tournaments (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018).
- Neymar has attempted the most shots (23) and shots on target (12), as well as creating the most goal-scoring chances for his teammates (16) and suffering the most fouls (23) at the 2018 World Cup.
- Neymar has scored six goals from 38 shots in World Cup tournaments – it took Lionel Messi 67 shots and Cristiano Ronaldo 74 shots to reach this goal tally at the World Cup.
- Mexico’s Rafael Marquez (39y 139d) is the oldest outfield player to start a World Cup knockout match since Stanley Matthews (39y 145d) in 1954 for England v Uruguay.
- Mexico has been eliminated from the #WorldCup at this stage (last 16) in each of the last six tournaments.
- Mohamed Salah scored 44 goals for Liverpool in all competitions in 2017/18 – only Ian Rush (47 in in 1983/84) has ever scored more in a single season for the Reds.
- This was only the second ever day in which two World Cup games were both decided by a penalty shootout – the other was on June 21st 1986 (France v Brazil and Mexico v Germany).
- Croatia has qualified for their first World Cup quarter-final since 1998, when they went on to finish third in the tournament.
Croatia v Denmark is only the second match in World Cup history to see both teams score inside four minutes, after Argentina v Nigeria in June 2014.
