Both Nigeria and Greece will be on duty in Brazil though housed in different groups. Nigeria is housed in Group F where it will face debutants Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina and colossal nemesis, Argentina while Greece housed in arguably the most open and difficult to predict of the eight sections, Group C with three teams (Colombia, Japan and Cote D’Ivoire) with no shared World Cup history whatsoever.
Team News:
Nigeria:
With just nine days to go, head Coach Stephen Keshi beat the FIFA deadline to name his final 23-man squad ahead of the mundial.
Nigeria played out a 2-2 draw against Scotland at Craven Cottage, London on May 28th. The Nigeria side was largely uninspiring in the encounter though the team comprised of largely, an experimental squad.
Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille), Austin Ejide (Hapoel, ISR), Chigozie Agbim (Gombe United),
Defenders: Joseph Yobo (Fenerbahce), Elderson Echiejile (Monaco), Juwon Oshaniwa (FC Ashdod), Godfrey Oboabona (Rizespor), Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves), Kenneth Omeruo (Chelsea), Efe Ambrose (Celtic), Kunle Odunlami (Sunshine Stars)
Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea), Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio), Ramon Azeez (Almeria), Michael Uchebo (Cercle Brugge), Reuben Gabriel (Beveren)
Strikers: Osaze Odemwingie (Stoke City), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow), Shola Ameobi (Newcastle), Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce), Babatunde Michael (Volyn), Victor Moses (Chelsea), Uche Nwofor (Heerenveen)
Greece:
Greece played out a 0-0 draw with Portugal in a largely uneventful friendly in Lisbon. Greece struggled to create chances and a long-range strike from Vassilis Torosidis was the sum of their efforts in a poor first half. Greece threatened in the final 10 minutes after the introduction of winger Giannis Fetfatzidis whose direct running put the hosts on the back foot.
Fulham's record signing Kostas Mitroglou has been included in Greece's final 23-man squad for the World Cup, despite a lack of playing time since his move to the Premier League.
Coach Fernando Santos believes the striker will be fully fit in time for the tournament in Brazil, which starts in nine days, after a troubled time in west London with his new side, who were relegated from the Premier League.
Full squad:
Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis (Granada), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos).
Defenders: Vassilis Torosidis (Roma), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Costas Manolas (Olympiakos), Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona), Jose Holebas (Olympiakos), Giorgos Tzavellas (PAOK), Yiannis Maniatis (Olympiakos).
Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Yiannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna).
Forwards: Georgios Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham), Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK).
Head-to-Head:
Both teams share one victory each at the FIFA World cup. Nigeria were debutants in 1994 when they shocked Greece 2-0 with goals in either half from Daniel Amokachi who now serves as the assistant coach. However, Greece got their own pound of flesh back in 1999 during an international friendly match with a 2-0 victory and repeated the feat again in the 2010 World cup group phase when they beat the Africans 2-1 in South Africa.
Recent form (Last five matches):
Nigeria - DDWDD
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have scored seven goals in their last five games and conceded five goals.
Greece - WWDLD
Fernando Santos’s side has not scored a single goal in their last two games but has managed to score six and conceded four goals in their last five matches.
Predicted lineups:
Nigeria: Enyeama, Efe, Omerou, Oboabona, Oshaniwa, Obi Mikel, Onazi, Azeez, Musa, Moses, Emenike
Greece: Karnezis, Torosidis, Manolas, Papastathopoulos, Holebas, Maniatis, Katsouranis, Tziolis, Salpingidis, Samaras, Mitroglou
Prediction: Nigeria 3-1 Greece
