Nigeria Begins World Cup Ticket Race Against Iran Today In Brazil

But for the 2-1 loss to USA in their last trial match, the Super Eagles would have had a 10-match un­beaten run into their first match at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. Prior to the game with the USA, Nigeria last lost a match on June 23 last year in the Confederation Cup duel with Spain.
Nigeria enters the World Cup campaign tonight against Iran with a first objective to end a winless streak. Since beating Bulgaria, 1-0, at the France ’98, the Super Eagles have had a 16 year win­less run in the FIFA World Cup. Since, the match in which Victor Ikpeba scored the solitary goal, the Super Eagles have racked up just two draws and six defeats in eight World Cup matches.
A win tonight terminates the un­wanted negative run. Even then, the Iranians are themselves without a win in four World Cup stage since their famous 2-1 win over USA in a politically charged game at France ’98. They have had three losses and a draw. The Iranians too are therefore seeking for victory, just as Nigerians are hungry for a win tonight.
The pair squared up only once in a Carlsberg Cup four-nation tourna­ment in January 1998. Nigeria won 1-0 through Ahmed Garba’s goal. Another proposed friendly match few years ago was scuttled over a controversial seizure of arms be­lieved to have originated from Iran.
The Portuguese coach of Iran, Carlos Queiroz is already look­ing forward to the Nigerian match. He told the London-based World Soccer magazine last month that his team was concentrating on the Nigeria match, “then we will think about Argentina.”
Hear him: “For us, Nigeria means the World Cup. The Nigeria match means everything to us,” he said in an interview conducted by South Africa’s Mark Gleeson.
He believes Iran is capable of upstaging Nigeria. “Iran is one of those countries, where football is in the blood of the people,” he re­marked.
This is not the first time that the Iranian coach will have encoun­ter with a Nigerian team. He was the coach of Portugal’s U-20 team that beat Nigeria twice at the 1989 World Youth Championship in Sau­di Arabia.