SOUTH KOREA TRIES TO CLINCH WORLD CUP KNOCKOUT BERTH AGAINST NIGERIA

Argentina is dominating Group B play, but with no other team stepping forward to claim the runner up spot the race is wide open for the second ticket to World Cup knockout rounds.  South Korea has the inside track at advancing and they can clinch the #2 spot in group play with a victory over Nigeria.   Oddly enough, Nigeria is also still alive for the knockout round as well despite losing their first two games—in fact, they’ve got a very realistic chance of advancing if they can earn a victory here.  All they need is for Argentina to beat Greece by more than one goal—a very likely scenario—and a win will see them though to the next round.

Nigeria owes everything to the exceptional play of goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.  Despite being on the wrong end of two decisions in group play, Enyema has allowed only three goals including just one to mighty Argentina.  That result looks even more impressive in light of Argentina’s 4-1 destruction of South Korea and has allowed the team to maintain a very favorable goal differential.   Nigeria will play this game without midfielder Sani Kaita, who was sent off against Greece in what was a critical turning point in the contest.  Kaita has been very apologetic about his dismissal and subsequent suspension for this game:

"I cannot stop apologising to all Nigerians for making this costly mistake. I am very sorry and I pray that we win our next game. The mood in camp is really high. They have accepted my apology and they are now desperate to win our next game for me so that we could move to the second round of the competition".

There’s a good chance that Kaita’s prayers will be answered.  South Korea lacks much in the way of offensive punch making it very likely that Enyema will be able to keep them off the scoreboard.  The Nigerian offense is far superior, suggesting that they’ll be able to keep pressure on their opponent and win with relative ease.  History is not on the side of South Korea, who has never advanced to the knockout stage in a World Cup held on foreign soil.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that Nigeria has the better offense, a competent defense and superior goaltending.  We’ll look for them to win the game here and put themselves in a great position to advance to the knockout stage pending the outcome of Argentina’s game with Greece.  Despite the considerable talents of Nigerian keeper Enyeama we look for a relatively high scoring affair making the OVER an attractive play.