But for the 2-1 loss to USA in their last trial match, the Super
Eagles would have had a 10-match unbeaten run into their first match at
the Brazil 2014 World Cup. Prior to the game with the USA, Nigeria last
lost a match on June 23 last year in the Confederation Cup duel with
Spain.
Nigeria enters the World Cup campaign tonight against Iran with a
first objective to end a winless streak. Since beating Bulgaria, 1-0, at
the France ’98, the Super Eagles have had a 16 year winless run in the
FIFA World Cup. Since, the match in which Victor Ikpeba scored the
solitary goal, the Super Eagles have racked up just two draws and six
defeats in eight World Cup matches.
A win tonight terminates the unwanted negative run. Even then, the
Iranians are themselves without a win in four World Cup stage since
their famous 2-1 win over USA in a politically charged game at France
’98. They have had three losses and a draw. The Iranians too are
therefore seeking for victory, just as Nigerians are hungry for a win
tonight.
The pair squared up only once in a Carlsberg Cup four-nation
tournament in January 1998. Nigeria won 1-0 through Ahmed Garba’s goal.
Another proposed friendly match few years ago was scuttled over a
controversial seizure of arms believed to have originated from Iran.
The Portuguese coach of Iran, Carlos Queiroz is already looking
forward to the Nigerian match. He told the London-based World Soccer
magazine last month that his team was concentrating on the Nigeria
match, “then we will think about Argentina.”
Hear him: “For us, Nigeria means the World Cup. The Nigeria match
means everything to us,” he said in an interview conducted by South
Africa’s Mark Gleeson.
He believes Iran is capable of upstaging Nigeria. “Iran is one of
those countries, where football is in the blood of the people,” he
remarked.
This is not the first time that the Iranian coach will have
encounter with a Nigerian team. He was the coach of Portugal’s U-20
team that beat Nigeria twice at the 1989 World Youth Championship in
Saudi Arabia.
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