catalyst2 | Game # 29 - Nigeria vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

Nigeria hoped to be greatly improved from their first game (the draw against Iran) and Bosnia and Herzegovina had played some really good football in their first game so this had all the potential to be a very exciting game - and it was. Nigeria's strategy early on was clearly to fire from long-range and they did, albeit unsuccessfully. Bosnia and Herzegovina's Dzeko scored the first goal of the game, only to be denied by an offside flag that really did look unjustified. However this did get the Super Eagles going and they started to be more effective, eventually scoring the only goal of the game after Emenike bundled his way past a defender and then laid on a great cross for Odemwingie to score from. Unfortunately, this seemed to really rattle Bosnia and Herzegovina who then spent a long while falling over every tackle and protesting every decision which, I felt disrupted their game. They were never quite as focused again. They did continue to drop crosses and passes into the Nigerian penalty area, especially to Dzeko but to no result. To both teams' credit, neither gave up and Nigeria played to extend their lead whilst Bosnia and Herzegovina tried hard to equalize. It finished 1-0 to Nigeria.

This meant that Bosnia and Herzegovina are definitely eliminated and Nigeria are almost there, only needing to draw in their next game against Argentina (who are already through).