France, who has look great throughout the whole tournament in the world cup went against the African Champions, the Nigerians. France and Nigeria had to fight hard to be able to advance to the Quarterfinals of the world cup and face either Germany or Algeria. France has been a great competition to every team they faced during the group stage. Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba both have been leading France with goals with Mathieu Valbuena leading the team with assists. France defeated Switzerland and Honduras while tying their last match of the group stage with Ecuador to help them advance to the knockout stage with 7 points. Nigeria went through Bosnia and Herzegovina for the win, tie against Iran and loss 3-2 to Argentina, but the 4 points that they accumulated was enough for them to advance. And they weren’t quitting just yet.
The first half seemed very even when it came to both teams. Both Nigeria and France had many chances to take the lead but nothing came from either team. Nigeria had a goal in the 18th minute that seemed they were going to have the early lead and have France fight to tie the game and take the lead themselves but it was taken away due to an offsides call. The ref made the right call as Emmanuel Emenike was actually offsides by a foot or so, so this call made the game scoreless.
France also had some chances in which Mathieu Valbuena cross-passed the ball to Pogba and as Pogba kicked it Vincent Enyeama was there to save the day for Nigeria. In the 39th minute it was France again that attacked and had a chance to take the lead. Again it was Mathieu Valbuena who passed it to Debuchy who had an open net on the right side but as he kicked it, it was deflected off to wide and kept the game scoreless in the first half.
The second half seemed to be a bit different than the first half. France was able to get control of the ball and have the majority of the possession. In the 70th minute, this is when we saw France attack more on the goal. Benzema was able to find control of the ball who then found Antoine Griezmann who passed it back to Benzema and was able to get it through the goalkeeper’s legs but one of the defenders was there to get the ball out of the box just before it crossed the goal line.
France then had another chance to take the lead in the 76th minute. In a corner kick play, the ball found Benzema who shot at goal but then blocked by Enyeama then landed in front of Yohan Cabaye who kicked it to goal but the ball deflected of the cross bar. Two minutes later we saw France attack in a cross that came from Valbuena to Karim Benzema, who then headed it in but Enyeama was there again to be the hero for Nigeria and keep the game scoreless but it was after this play that got France in the scoreboard. After the play there was a corner kick play, in which the goalkeeper of Nigeria tried to get the ball out of the box, but instead tapped it and the ball landed in front of Paul Pogba who head it in for the goal. This put France in the lead with only 10 minutes left in the game.
With the game coming to an end, France was able to score again in a corner kick, which was played by Mathieu Valbuena who found Griezmann, but instead the ball deflected of Defender Joseph Yobo and counted as an own goal. This goal was able to close the game and give France the victory.
Nigeria put in a tough fight against France and gave them hell, but at the end, France was able to conquer and continue on its way to the Quarterfinals. France will face either Germany or Algeria on Friday to see who would advance to the Semi-finals of the world cup.
Photo Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images