Monday will see France take on Nigeria in the Round of 16 at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and we look at the midfield of both countries and who is likely to carry the day.

A look at the Nigerian midfield shows a hard working midfield that is suspect to slow recovery and a lack of pace. At least thats what the records show so far. The Nigerian midfield compensates for this “deficiency” by slowing down the tempo of the game to almost a walking pace while trying to dictate the game with occasional bursts of speed to surprise their opponents.

For France, it is the direct opposite. They seem more comfortable playing with 90 minutes of pace and attacking intent as compared to the “docile” appearance of the Nigerian midfield.

A concern for the Nigerian midfield seems to be their love of giving away balls in midfield. Against Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina they lost several balls in the midfield particularly in the second half of these two matches. This brings me back to a third characteristic of the Nigerian midfielders which is stamina. They always seem to tire out faster than their opponents. This could take its toll on the pair of Mikel Obi and Ogenyi Onazi who have both played 270 minutes each – thats every single minute of all Nigeria’s three matches at this World Cup.

For France, Didier Deschamps has shuffled his midfield more. With Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba and Moussa Sissoko all playing 247, 174 and 213 respectively. They will have a fresher midfield against Nigeria that is almost for certain.

When it comes to winning aerial balls, the Nigeria midfield seems to be just as good as any secondary school football side.

However, the good news for Nigeria is the fact that they have a more defensive effective midfield. The pair of Onazi and Mikel have both won 30% and 43% of the tackle they have gone into. For France, Pogba is their only midfielder who comes close to making commendable tackles. He has won 40% of his tackles. All other French midfielders have won far less than 30% of their tackles.

But when it comes to going forward and attacking, the French midfield seems to be like a moving train. Matuidi and Pogba have each made 83% successful moves forward. This explains the high number of goals France has scored so far. Valbuena has also been exceptional going forward with an almost 100% success rate. For Nigeria, Onazi seems to be the key in going forward. He has made close to 100% successful moves forward while Mikel has managed a 64% success rate.


When it comes to winning aerial balls, the Nigeria midfield seems to be just as good as any secondary school football side. The midfield pair of Onazi and Mikel have won only a combined 19% of their aerial battles. For France the pair of Pogba and Matuidi have won a combined impressive 62% of their aerial battles.

Another thing unravelled is the zeal with which the French midfield contributes to their attack. They have created 2 assists and scored 3 goals. Assists were by Pogba and Valbuena while goals were scored by Matuidi, Sissoko and Valbuena. For Nigeria, the midfield can boast of no goal and only one assist from Babatunde. Unfortunately he (Babatunde) will not be featuring against France – no thanks to a sprained right hand.

Importantly, unlike the French forward line, the Nigerian forward helps a lot in defensive duties with the likes of Osaze Odemwengie and Ahmed Musa winning a combined 42% of the tackles they have made in the midfield.


Again, unlike Nigeria who have faced the top opposition from Argentina in the group stages, France has not really been tested by any strong opposition with all due respect to Switzerland, Honduras and Ecuador.

So Monday’s important clash will see two sides playing almost opposite football styles – one side attacking with pace like on a football video game and the other slowing down the pace and picking out the right moments to launch an attack like a chess master.

So the questions now are how will France’s Le Bleus cope with the physical Nigeria side that will take the pace out of the game and how will Nigeria’s Super Eagles cope against a pacey attack minded French side?

Both questions surely will be answered in the next 24 hours at the Estadio Nacional de Brasilia.

http://www.soccerroomtoday.com/news/between-the-midfielders-of-france-and-nigeria-pogba-matuidi-and-mikel-onazi/

Nigeria will surprise France wether we win or not.