Senegal, Nigeria show pace, presence of mind

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L0 0 1 2 6 1 -3 -4 that would hurt neither. It is possible that Senegal and Nigeria could make it out of the group stage and, boy, wouldn’t that be great news for Africa?

Nigeria could have won by a bigger margin against Iceland, showing that football’s smallest nation at a World Cup is in its element shutting out teams that are more powerful. But when it comes to taking the game to opponents, they tend to struggle.

Nigeria fizzed with pace making them barely recognisable from the team that played Croatia. Ahmed Musa’s goals were a product of opportunism and technique in equal measure; the way he hooked the ball for the first goal was something his marker didn’t anticipate. The second had him going past players and rounding off the goalie before banging home.

But here’s the thing: Nigeria are a team that is totally unpredictable. So, while they could steamroller an Argentina – not too difficult given the disarray there seems to be in Lionel Messi’s team now – they could also simply roll over. That could, in turn, give Argentina just the lifeline they need to turn their campaign around.

The team from Africa that impressed me most was Morocco. They were under a coach who had done well in Africa and put in solid shifts in both games. They were unlucky against Iran and Portugal. They could have won both games but now go into their final game knowing that their World Cup would end with it.

Updated till South Korea-mexico match; * denotes qualified for round of 16

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