France are hot
favourites to progress to the quarter-finals of the World Cup when they tackle
Nigeria in their round of 16 clash at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia on
Monday.
Didier Deschamps’
side, who lifted the World Cup on home soil back in 1998, impressed as they
topped Group E with comprehensive and goal-laden victories over Honduras and
Switzerland before drawing 0-0 with Ecuador.
Nigeria, meanwhile,
finished second in Group F behind Argentina and are targeting their first-ever
World Cup quarter-final berth in their first knockout match since 1998.
Deschamps made a
number of changes for the Ecuador clash and is expected to recall some key
players, with Yohan Cabaye set to return from suspension in place of Morgan
Schneiderlin.
Opta facts
·
This will be only the second international meeting between
France and Nigeria. The Super Eagles won the previous meeting 1-0 in
Saint-Etienne back in June 2009.
·
France have lost two of their last three World Cup matches
against African nations (2002 v Senegal and 2010 v South Africa). They beat
Togo between these two defeats, in 2006.
·
The Super Eagles are aiming to become just the fourth African
side to make the quarter finals of a World Cup tournament (after Cameroon in
1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010).
·
On the last five occasions that France have progressed past
round one in the World Cup, they have reached the semi-final stage (1958, 1982,
1986, 1998 and 2006).
Defender Mamadou
Sakho is a doubt due to the thigh injury which forced him off in the 61st
minute of their final group game, meaning Laurent Koscielny and Raphael Varane
could start in central defence.
Moussa Sissoko
could start ahead of Paul Pogba, Mathieu Valbuena is set to return after being
rested, while Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann are battling to start up
front alongside Golden Boot hopeful Karim Benzema.
Arsenal defender
Koscielny is keen to play down France’s hopes of global glory in Brazil,
particularly as Deschamps’ side had to overturn a 2-0 first leg play-off defeat
against Ukraine just to qualify.
He said: "The
first objective was to get through the group phase. Now it's to go as far as
possible.
"We are
competitors and we are ambitious, but we know that we have opponents against us
and that we might lose.
"We're aware
of our qualities. Something changed after the Ukraine game, but anything is
possible in a knockout match and for the moment we're only focusing on the last
16."
Moses
Nigeria coach
Stephen Keshi will hope to have Chelsea’s Victor Moses available again after he
returned to training with the squad on Saturday following the muscle complaint
that kept him out of the 3-2 defeat by Argentina.
Keshi’s only
confirmed absentee is winger Michael Babatunde, who sustained a fractured wrist
after being struck by Ogenyi Onazi’s shot in their final Group E fixture.
Joseph Yobo
Nigeria captain
Joseph Yobo will earn his 101st cap when he leads his side out against France,
and having just faced Argentina ace Lionel Messi, he claims that they will not
fear Monday’s opponents.
He told fifa.com:
"We won the Africa Cup of Nations, booked our place in the World Cup
without any trouble and now we've qualified for the second round. It's not
often that I've experienced so many pieces of good news in a row.
“That shows you
we're improving. This team is young, but it's growing fast and learning
quickly. We're taking confidence from our campaign so that it can help us in
our next match.
"We've just
played against the best forward in the world, so we're ready to measure
ourselves against anybody.
"I don't see
what we should be afraid of. I believe in this team, and I think we can do
it."
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