France – Nigeria

France will feel confident of advancing to the World Cup quarterfinals when they meet Nigeria in the Round 16. Can the Super Eagles hold their own and produce an upset?

France has been hands down one of the most impressive teams in this World Cup. They entered the competition with some excellent form to their name and confirmed it with big wins over Honduras and Switzerland, before relaxing a little bit to finish 0-0 against Ecuador. France is creating chances with ease and scores a lot of goals, but their defense is even more impressive: just 3 goals conceded in the last 8 games, two of which came late in the Switzerland game, when France was leading 5-0.

One might say that Nigeria got a lucky break to reach this stage, they scraped a 1-0 win against Bosnia after being held to a goalless draw by Iran and finished 2nd behind Argentina. However, Bosnia had a goal wrongly disallowed at 0-0 against the Africans, which could have changed the whole complexity of the group. Nigeria looked very shy offensively in the first two matches but went on to score twice in the 2-3 loss to Argentina. However, the South Americans were already qualified and weren`t really 100% focused in that match. The Super Eagles kept 6 clean sheets in the last 9 games, but have also failed to score 4 times.

Wide betting coverage and best asian handicap market at Sbobet. Register now to get great odds and a 200 euro welcome bonus!

Team news & lineups

Sakho is doubtful for France but he should be able to start. Nigeria has Babatunde unavailable, while Oboabona and Moses are questionable, with Moses the more unlikely to start.

France: Lloris – Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra – Cabaye, Matuidi, Pogba – Valbuena, Benzema, Giroud

Nigeria: Enyeama – Ambrose, Omeruo, Yobo, Oshaniwa – Onazi, Mikel – Azeez, Odemwingie, Musa – Emenike

France is the better team here, they played superior football in the World Cup and Nigeria will likely miss three regulars, so a win for Les Bleus seems really likely. Nevertheless, Nigeria will try to use its defense expertise to stay in this game and I believe they have what it takes to frustrate France. Les Bleus are great up front but do have stretches when they can’t create anything and have also been very poor finishers in the last game against Ecuador. On the other hand I expect the rock solid France defense to have an easy time keeping at bey a goal-shy side like Nigeria. France to win to nil seems like the best choice here, better than the handicap – I just love the odds, I wasn`t expecting more than 2.00 and I wouldn’t be surprised if it only ends 1-0. So, all in all, my tip is France to win to nil. Prediction: France – Nigeria 2-0.

Pick: France to win to nil
Odds: 2.38 @ Youwin
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 11.04
Event date: 30 June