By Bolaji Oyegunle, London Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has tipped Nigeria and Argentina as the two teams favoured to proceed through to the knockout stages of the World Cup from Group F when the tournament kicks off next month.
Nigeria’s World Cup campaign kicks off in Curitiba when the Eagles take on Iran on June 16 and after that they subsequently play Bosnia-Herzegovina and Argentina on the 21st and 25th respectively. According to coach Wenger, Argentina looks favourite to top the group, with Nigeria well placed to come second.
He added that with Argentina widely regarded as the best team of the quartet, Nigeria looks like the team to emerge with them from the group. According to coach Wenger, the Super Eagles play more as a unit, when compared with Bosnia-Herzegovina, the other team expected to complete with Nigeria for a place in the second round.
Mr Wenger added: “I don’t know about second place. I think that Nigeria might qualify for the second stage as they really made a good impression on me during the African Cup of Nations.
“They seem to have a really good team spirit, which is not always easy for African teams. They have less star players but they have a real team and it’s been a while since that happened for them.”
Already, the Eagles have started training in Philadelphia for the next warm-up game against Greece on June 3, having flown into the US from London where they played a 2-2 draw with Scotland. After the Greece game, the team will then fly to Jacksonville in Florida where it will take on Team USA before heading to Brazil.
Upon arrival in Brazil, the Eagles will play one last warm-up match against Algeria on June 11 just a day before the tournament kicks off on June 12. Just before the next game against Greece, head coach Stephen Keshi is expected to name the 23 who will participate in the tournament from his provisional list of 30.
