FIFA Confederations Cup 2013: Nigeria vs Uruguay preview

Nigeria’s players take part in a training session at the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador on the eve of their FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2014 Group B football match against Uruguay.

Nigeria take on Mexico for the first time ever at the Fonte Nova stadium in Salvador, Brazil, on Thursday in the race to reach the semi-finals. Both the teams are placed alongside Spain and Tahiti in the Group B of the Confederations Cup 2013.

Nigeria will qualify for the semi-finals if they defeat Uruguay while the South Americans are in desperate need of some points in order to advance to the semi-finals. Nigeria come in to the match after defeating Tahiti 6-1 in a group match on Monday. On the other hand, Uruguay come in to the game after being defeated by 2-1 by Spain. Nigeria and Spain have three points each but the Super Eagles lead the Group B due to the number of goals which they scored against Tahiti.

Nigeria seemed to have some bad runs for large periods against minnows Tahiti but they cannot afford to do the same against Uruguay. Stephen Keshi’s team failed to impress in their victory over Tahiti and they should be expecting a tougher test against the South Americans. The scoreline in the game against Tahiti might suggest a resounding victory but Nigeria were far from impressive in the entire game. Apart from AC Milan‘s Nnamdi Oduamadi, who scored a hat-trick against Tahiti, the Nigerian attack doesn’t look much threatening and the Uruguayan side will be playing with full attacking intent as they are in need of some points to move up in their group.

After the game against Tahiti, coach Stephen Keshi demanded improvement from his team and said: “I wouldn’t say I was annoyed, but I was worried when we did not take our chances because it gave our opponents hope.”

Uruguay didn’t show the best of their displays against their previous opponents either but the 34-year-old Uruguayan forward, Diego Forlan, was less than bothered about the loss against Spain.

“We knew before coming to Brazil that our most important game was against Nigeria and nothing has changed because we lost to Spain,” said Forlan.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has come under severe criticism in recent times for his belief in veterans such as Diego Forlan and Diego Lugano and a defeat against the Super Eagles would just add more fuel to the fire.

Match FactsUruguay have won just three times in their last 11 international matches.

This game will mark Diego Forlan’s 100th cap for Uruguay.

Diego Forlan has not scored in his last 12 games for Uruguay.

Luis Suarez has scored 11 times in his last 14 games for Uruguay.

Nigeria have been unbeaten in their last 18 fixtures and their last defeat came against Peru in May 2012.

The Super Eagles have managed just 5 clean sheets in their previous 15 games.

Nnamdi Oduamadi has scored four goals in his first six internationals for Nigeria.

The Africa Cup of Nations holders have conceded just six goals in their previous seven fixtures.Head to Head

Nigeria and Uruguay have never met in an international match before.

Probable line-ups:

Nigeria (4-3-3): Enyeama; Ambrose, Oboabona, Omeruo, Elderson; Ogude, Mikel, Mba; Oduamadi, Ujah, Musa.

Uruguay (4-4-2): Muslera; Godin, Lugano, Pereira, Caceres; Ramirez, Perez, Gargano, Rodriguez; Suarez, Cavani.

Predicted Score: Nigeria 1 – 2 Uruguay