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The Super Eagles of Nigeria were, on Friday, drawn in Group D to play against Iceland, Croatia and nemesis, Argentina in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup scheduled to hold in Russia.
After going through their World Cup qualifying phase unbeaten (amassing a total of 14 points from a possible 18), the Eagles will again face a recurring historic war of battling Argentina, one of the terrifying team in group D for the fifth time, three times in a row.
Ahead of the clash between Argentina and Nigeria in Russia come 2018, here are the necessary facts you need to know about …
CLEAN SHEETS
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have kept only one clean sheet in seven encounters with Argentina. That clean sheet was in 1995 FIFA Confederations Cup. Argentina on their part have kept three clean sheets. In 1995 at the Confederations Cup, and at the 2002 and 2010 FIFA World Cups in South Korea /Japan and South Africa.
BRACE HEROES
Only three players have bagged braces in the seven meetings between both teams. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup Claudio Caniggia scored a brace as the Diego Maradona-inspired side came back to win 2-1 after Samson Siasia’s sublime opener at the Foxboro, Boston. Ahmed Musa also scored a brace in Nigeria’s 3-2 loss to Argentina at the Estadio Beira-Rio stadium, in Brazil.
GOAL DIFFERENCES
Nigeria have conceded 11 goals in seven meetings, scoring eight against Argentina. Samson Siasia was the first player to score a goal at the FIFA World Cup level between both teams while Marcos Rojo was the last player to find the back of the net.
Musa also became the first Nigerian player to score a brace in a World Cup finals match. That same encounter also saw Lionel Messi score a brace to help Argentina finish top of Group F with three wins from three games.
Other relevant facts…
—Nigeria’s Super Eagles is youngest team at Russia 2018 world cup with an average age of (24.9) years
—Nigeria meet Argentina at a World Cup for the fifth time. They lost all previous meetings, all in the group phase (1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014) WorldCupDraw