FIFA World Cup 2014 Predictions: Match #12 Iran vs. Nigeria

Final Score

Iran 0 Nigeria 0

Overview

The twelfth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Iran and Nigeria. The Group F match should be interesting because this will be Nigeria's chance to seal a victory against a relatively weaker opposition and secure 3 points, which will give it a strong hope of going to the next round.

Teams

Iran: Iran's performance in pre-World cCup friendlies was far from encouraging. After failing to failing to score against Belarus (0-0) and Montenegro (0-0), it finally scored against Angola (1-1). However, its only win came in the last match before the World Cup against Trinidad and Tobago (2-0). Iran did not qualify in 2010, but former Manchester United coach Carlos Queiroz (also coached South Africa and Portugal before) guided it to finish on top of the Asian Qualifying Group A. It defeated South Korea (1-0) there. It will depend a lot on Fulham winger Ashkan Dejagah who has had impressive season.

Nigeria: Nigeria has been a giant killer. It defeated Spain 3-2 in the 1998 World Cup. It seems to have an uncanny connection with Argentina as it has been in the same group with the South American giant four times out of five World Cups it played (in 1994, 2002, 2010 and now in 2014). Nigeria is the current Africa Cup of Nations champion. It will miss its defender Elderson Echiejile who has recently suffered an injury. Nigeria will depend a lot on players like Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike. It will be one of the most fabulous teams to watch, but it has not reached the World Cup knockout stages since 1998. This year, 2014, will be its fight against history.

Head to Head

These two teams played only once against each other. Nigeria scored 1 goal and won it.

Key Players

Nigeria: Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Obinna

Iran: Reza Ghoochannejhad, Karim Ansari and Ashkan Dejagah

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 4 pm (local time) on June 16, which means it is 5 am on June 17 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba.

Prediction

Iran will look helpless against the mighty opposition. Nigeria will win the match 3-0.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au