France 2 Nigeria 0
World Cup 2014France
Nigeria
France's Paul Pogba rises highest to put his team 1-0 up against Nigeria in their World Cup last 16 game in Brasília.
It was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests but France, inspired by a substitution that changed the complexion of the game, eventually broke Nigeria’s brave resistance to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It took 79 minutes for a goal to arrive and felt desperately cruel that the otherwise outstanding Vincent Enyeama should be the man who gifted France the lead. Paul Pogba took full advantage and Joseph Yobo’s late own goal sealed Nigeria’s fate.
For France, these are special times, all the more so because of the farce of four years ago, when Raymond Domenech’s side returned from South Africa in disgrace. A warm welcome awaits Didier Deschamps’ players no matter what happens in their quarter-final in Rio on Friday. They have restored pride in Les Bleus with their performances in Brazil and, with a place in the World Cup semi-finals only 90 minutes away, their supporters could be forgiven for starting to dream.
This, however, was a tough contest and for the first hour there was nothing to choose between the two teams. The turning point came when Deschamps decided to withdraw the anonymous Olivier Giroud and replace him with Antoine Griezmann, the Real Sociedad winger. Karim Benzema, who had started wide on the left, shifted across to his favoured role through the middle and France were a totally different proposition.
With Nigeria badly missing the influence of Ogenyi Onazi, who was forced to leave the field on a stretcher after a poor challenge from Blaise Matudi that earned the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder a booking, France took control of the game. Griezmann’s pace and Benzema’s penetration up front were too much for Nigeria to handle as France exploited the space that began to open up when Stephen Keshi’s side started to run on empty.
Nigeria held out for a while, due in no small part to the brilliance of Enyeama, who raced off his line to smother at Benzema’s feet, following a lovely exchange with Griezmann, before denying the Real Madrid striker again with a fingertip save. In between those two chances Yohan Cabaye rattled the crossbar after Mikel John Obi had hacked off the line.
There was, in other words, a sense that the goal was coming; what nobody could have imagined was that Enyeama would serve it up on a plate. Coming for a corner that he had no chance of getting, the Lille goalkeeper flapped at the ball and Pogba, in space at the back post, had the simple task of heading it into the unguarded net. The expression on Enyeama’s face said it all. Yobo’s unfortunate own goal, as he tried to prevent Griezmann from turning the ball home, wrapped things up.
Afterwards, Keshi, the Nigeria coach, complained bitterly about the performance of the referee, Mark Geiger, who he accused of being “biased”. Keshi was angry Emmanuel Emenike had a goal ruled out early in the first half, despite replays showing the assistant referee had been right to flag for offside and complained about Matuidi’s challenge on Onazi.
“I am not happy with the officiating because Onazi, on two occasions, he had a very bad tackle and nothing was done by the referee,” Keshi said.
“I think the referee was just … for me, I think he was biased. This is the first time I will speak about the referee in my life as a coach but it wasn’t good.
“If you look at the goal we scored, I don’t think there was any infringement. The referee is a human being, bound to make some mistakes, but a lot of mistakes is questionable.”
There were certainly some contentious decisions – Giroud was fortunate that Geiger took a lenient view of an elbow that caught Mikel in the first half – but it was hard to argue France were not worthy of victory in the end.
Nigeria had started brightly and caused France plenty of problems in the first half, when Onazi was breaking up play and Ahmed Musa, Peter Odemwingie and Emmanuel Emenike looked threatening going forward.
Emenike thought he had given Nigeria the lead in the 19th minute when he got away from Laurent Koscielny and neatly converted Musa’s cross.
The stadium erupted – there was no doubt which team the locals were supporting – but the raised flag of the assistant referee on the far side stopped the celebrations.
Pogba was at the centre of France’s best moment in the first half when he set off on a marauding run from deep and, after swapping passes with Mathieu Valbuena, struck a first-time volley that Enyeama repelled with two hands. France, though, were spluttering a little and it needed the arrival of Griezmann to liberate them.
Unable to keep the ball, Nigeria were retreating deeper and deeper, inviting more and more French pressure. Benzema played a one-two with Griezmann that sliced an increasingly stretched Nigeria defence wide open but Enyeama saved superbly. Another Benzema effort was half-cleared and Cabaye, perfectly positioned on the edge of the area to pick up the loose ball, thumped a 20-yard shot against the crossbar.
There was another reprieve for Nigeria when Benzema’s header, from Valbuena’s free-kick, was flicked over the bar by Enyeama but the Super Eagles’ good fortune was about to run out. From the corner that followed Enyeama went wandering and Pogba headed home.
Enyeama, to his immense credit, produced a splendid one-handed save to deny Griezmann moments later but France kept coming back for more, and they killed the game when Valbuena’s cross was turned into his own goal by Yobo, under pressure from Griezmann, in injury time.
It was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests but France, inspired by a substitution that changed the complexion of the game, eventually broke Nigeria’s brave resistance to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It took 79 minutes for a goal to arrive and felt desperately cruel that the otherwise outstanding Vincent Enyeama should be the man who gifted France the lead. Paul Pogba took full advantage and Joseph Yobo’s late own goal sealed Nigeria’s fate.
For France, these are special times, all the more so because of the farce of four years ago, when Raymond Domenech’s side returned from South Africa in disgrace. A warm welcome awaits Didier Deschamps’ players no matter what happens in their quarter-final in Rio on Friday. They have restored pride in Les Bleus with their performances in Brazil and, with a place in the World Cup semi-finals only 90 minutes away, their supporters could be forgiven for starting to dream.
This, however, was a tough contest and for the first hour there was nothing to choose between the two teams. The turning point came when Deschamps decided to withdraw the anonymous Olivier Giroud and replace him with Antoine Griezmann, the Real Sociedad winger. Karim Benzema, who had started wide on the left, shifted across to his favoured role through the middle and France were a totally different proposition.
With Nigeria badly missing the influence of Ogenyi Onazi, who was forced to leave the field on a stretcher after a poor challenge from Blaise Matudi that earned the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder a booking, France took control of the game. Griezmann’s pace and Benzema’s penetration up front were too much for Nigeria to handle as France exploited the space that began to open up when Stephen Keshi’s side started to run on empty.
Nigeria held out for a while, due in no small part to the brilliance of Enyeama, who raced off his line to smother at Benzema’s feet, following a lovely exchange with Griezmann, before denying the Real Madrid striker again with a fingertip save. In between those two chances Yohan Cabaye rattled the crossbar after Mikel John Obi had hacked off the line.
There was, in other words, a sense that the goal was coming; what nobody could have imagined was that Enyeama would serve it up on a plate. Coming for a corner that he had no chance of getting, the Lille goalkeeper flapped at the ball and Pogba, in space at the back post, had the simple task of heading it into the unguarded net. The expression on Enyeama’s face said it all. Yobo’s unfortunate own goal, as he tried to prevent Griezmann from turning the ball home, wrapped things up.
Afterwards, Keshi, the Nigeria coach, complained bitterly about the performance of the referee, Mark Geiger, who he accused of being “biased”. Keshi was angry Emmanuel Emenike had a goal ruled out early in the first half, despite replays showing the assistant referee had been right to flag for offside and complained about Matuidi’s challenge on Onazi.
“I am not happy with the officiating because Onazi, on two occasions, he had a very bad tackle and nothing was done by the referee,” Keshi said.
“I think the referee was just … for me, I think he was biased. This is the first time I will speak about the referee in my life as a coach but it wasn’t good.
“If you look at the goal we scored, I don’t think there was any infringement. The referee is a human being, bound to make some mistakes, but a lot of mistakes is questionable.”
There were certainly some contentious decisions – Giroud was fortunate that Geiger took a lenient view of an elbow that caught Mikel in the first half – but it was hard to argue France were not worthy of victory in the end.
Nigeria had started brightly and caused France plenty of problems in the first half, when Onazi was breaking up play and Ahmed Musa, Peter Odemwingie and Emmanuel Emenike looked threatening going forward.
Emenike thought he had given Nigeria the lead in the 19th minute when he got away from Laurent Koscielny and neatly converted Musa’s cross.
The stadium erupted – there was no doubt which team the locals were supporting – but the raised flag of the assistant referee on the far side stopped the celebrations.
Pogba was at the centre of France’s best moment in the first half when he set off on a marauding run from deep and, after swapping passes with Mathieu Valbuena, struck a first-time volley that Enyeama repelled with two hands. France, though, were spluttering a little and it needed the arrival of Griezmann to liberate them.
Unable to keep the ball, Nigeria were retreating deeper and deeper, inviting more and more French pressure. Benzema played a one-two with Griezmann that sliced an increasingly stretched Nigeria defence wide open but Enyeama saved superbly. Another Benzema effort was half-cleared and Cabaye, perfectly positioned on the edge of the area to pick up the loose ball, thumped a 20-yard shot against the crossbar.
There was another reprieve for Nigeria when Benzema’s header, from Valbuena’s free-kick, was flicked over the bar by Enyeama but the Super Eagles’ good fortune was about to run out. From the corner that followed Enyeama went wandering and Pogba headed home.
Enyeama, to his immense credit, produced a splendid one-handed save to deny Griezmann moments later but France kept coming back for more, and they killed the game when Valbuena’s cross was turned into his own goal by Yobo, under pressure from Griezmann, in injury time.
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