Preview: Nigeria vs Iceland
The last two games on Friday are among the toughest to call of the whole group stage, starting with Nigeria v Iceland.
Nigerian player John Mikel Obi / AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI
It’s rare at this stage not to have a clear favourite in the betting – indeed, most games feature an odds-on jolly – yet here it’s 19/10 Nigeria and 17/10 Iceland with 11/5 for the draw.
It’s fair enough, and if pushed we’d just favour Iceland and the astonishing tournament alchemy they seem to have been able to conduct over the last few years. Clearly, nobody is going to underestimate them ever again and a victory here would represent a huge step towards another major tournament knockout stage.
The 10/3 on offer for Iceland/Iceland HT/FT market is appealing also for a side that scores plenty of first-half goals (22 of their last 42 competitive goals have come before the break).
Nigeria, by contrast, are far stronger after the break, scoring 68% of their competitive goals in the current World Cup cycle in the second half. With that in mind, Iceland/Draw is a live contender in that market at 14/1.
It’s a surprise to see Gylfi Sigurdsson as big as 5/2 to score anytime given his quality and a record of five goals in his last 11 international games. Sigurdsson to score first in an Iceland win looks a more-than fair 10/1 shot as the World Cup’s smallest ever country bids to write another astonishing chapter in its recent football history.
· Iceland to win at 17/10
· Gylfi Sigurdsson to score at 5/2
