FIFA World Cup 2014 France v/s Nigeria: France make it through to quarterfinals after Pogba scores and Yobo concedes an own goal

FULL TIME

Although the Nigerian defence played a fantastic game, France will go through to the quarter finals to play either Germany or Algeria. Final Score - France 2-0 Nigeria.

90+' GOAL! Yobo scores an own goal for Nigeria, giving France the lead by 2 goals.

GOAL Griezmann makes it 2-0 for #FRA http://t.co/E3RyJD5jjB

— Football Vines (@FootballVines) June 30, 2014

90' There will be 5 minutes of added time.

90' Benzema takes a corner kick.

89' Nwofor comes off the bench to replace Moses.

.@paulpogba's strike is the 146th goal of this #WorldCup exceeding South Africa 2010's total - http://t.co/esHymtT0rK pic.twitter.com/5HyLlkHgrp

— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 30, 2014

86' Mikel concedes a free kick.

86' Odemwingie takes a corner.

85' Moses takes a shot on target. Debuchy blocks the shot.

85' Valbuena gives away a corner kick.

84' Enyeama continues his form as he blocks another French attack.

79' GOAL! Paul Pogba scores for France, finally. His first ever goal in the World Cup.

GOAL Paul Pogba gives #FRA the lead http://t.co/LKwm0yAwuT

— Football Vines (@FootballVines) June 30, 2014

79' Benzema takes one more game winning shot, but the keeper will not let up.

77' Benzema continues to attack, but the Nigerian defence seems to have all their bases covered.

76' Koscielny of France takes a shot on target, but it is blocked by Omeruo.

73' Pogba concedes a free kick.

70' Benzema takes a shot on target, and what could only be described as fantastic defending, Nigerian keeper Enyeama blocks the shot and then the ball is cleared by Victor Moses.

* Read about the company behind the FIFA World Cup. From the Stadiums to the Studs to the official FIFA ball, these men do it all.

67' Moses commits another foul.

64' Odemwingie takes a shot on target, but French skipper Lloris saves it.

64' Moses concedes a free kick.

64' Matuidi commits a foul.

62' Griezmann comes off the bench to replace Giroud for France.

52' Emenike is in an offside position.

51' Valbuena takes a corner kick.

48' Odemwingie takes a corner.

45' The second half begins.

HALF TIME:

It's been a goalless first half, the score is France 0-0 Nigeria.

45+1' Onazi concedes a free kick.

45' There will be 2 minutes of added time.

44' Emenike takes a shot on target, Lloris blocks the shot.

43' The Nigerian defence is looking strong, keeping Benzema at bay.

40' France miss a great chance, Debuchy plays the shot just off target.

38' Musa takes a corner kick, but nothing comes of it.

35' French players missing a lot of chances because they are playing from an offside position. 

32' Valbuena swings in a corner.

31' Musa swings in the corner.

30' Odemwingie hits the target, but it's blocked by Varane.

29' Valbuena commits a foul.

28' Pogba once again hits the target but is denied a goal. It's only a matter of time before he makes some room.

25' Moses of Nigeria concedes a free kick.

22' Pogba takes a great shot on target, but Enyeama makes a magnificent save.

20' Benzema is in an offside position. Lots of pressure on Benzema, as he's expected to carry France to victory

20' Oshaniwa commits a foul.

19' Emenike takes a shot on target, but he's ruled offside. That goal could have been a great advantage to Nigeria.

16' Matuidi of France commits a foul.

15' Guroud takes a shot on target.

10' Emenike of Nigeria takes a shot on target, but Koscielny.

8' Cabaye commits a foul.

5' Giroud takes a shot but it's off target.

4' Musa swings in a corner.

2' Mikel commits the first foul of the game.

2' The French attack early on, but lose the ball to a Nigerian counter attack.

1' The whistle blows, and the match begins!

* The national anthems are on, and the match will begin in a few moments. So far, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Netherlands have made it through to the next round. Tonight the matches between France and Nigeria, Germany and Algeria will give two more teams a spot in the quarterfinals.

* Here is FIFA's comparison chart of the matches played by both teams in this tournament:

STATS CENTRE: Compare #FRA and #NGA before their #WorldCup Round of 16 match-up here - http://t.co/yrt6Bni7Jo pic.twitter.com/jasXWv5njH

— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 30, 2014

* The Line Ups have been announced:

#FRA LINE-UP: Lloris (c), Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Cabaye, Valbuena, Giroud, Benzema, Matuidi, Pogba, Koscielny #FRANGA #WorldCup #joinin

— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 30, 2014

#FRA LINE-UP: Lloris (c), Debuchy, Evra, Varane, Cabaye, Valbuena, Giroud, Benzema, Matuidi, Pogba, Koscielny #FRANGA #WorldCup #joinin

— FIFAWorldCup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 30, 2014

* The match between France and Nigeria will begin shortly.

France coach Didier Deschamps used his side’s final group stage game against Ecuador to rest a number of regular starters, yet he’s not fully without injury worries ahead of Monday’s round of 16 encounter with Nigeria.

Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho escaped punishment for his elbow against the South Americans, yet seems likely to miss out on the game versus Nigeria after all due to injury. The former Paris Saint-Germain centre-back is struggling with a hamstring problem and Deschamps is unlikely to take any risks. With Laurent Koscielny recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, Eliaquim Mangala could get the nod at centre-back alongside Raphael Varane. Furthermore, Paul Pogba and Moussa Sissoko will both be hopeful of starting in midfield, with the Juventus star currently sitting in pole position to feature from the first whistle.

Meanwhile, Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has some injury problems of his own after the narrow 3-2 loss to Argentina in his side’s final group fixture. Midfielder Michael Babatunde sustained a freak arm injury in that game and is unlikely to return to full fitness before the end of the tournament. Additionally, there are still doubts over the fitness of Victor Moses, who has made just one appearance so far due to a muscular problem.

Moses could take Babatunde’s place in the starting XI, but Michael Uchebo remains an option as well after coming off the bench against Argentina. Up front, Keshi is likely to put his faith in Peter Odemwingie, Emmanuel Emenike and Ahmed Musa once more as Nigeria have set their sights on reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Read The Full Match Preview Here

France Team Profile:

The 2006 World Cup final loss to Italy still haunts the French team. But this World Cup, France are out to prove a point. Les Bleus have performed well in the group stages as they won two of their three group matches in convincing manner. The French won 3-0 in their opening match against Honduras. In their second group match, Les Bleus thrashed Switzerland 5-2, to go on top of Group E. France dominated the group as they scored eight goals and conceded only two. After an impressive group stage, France progressed to the Round-of-16 and are up against Nigeria.

Players To Look Out For: Karim Benzema, Blaise Matuidi

France's cathartic turnaround - France has a love-hate relationship with its national football team as perfectly demonstrated by the reaction to a 2-0 first-leg play-off defeat to Ukraine and the ecstatic euphoria generated at the Stade de France that carried the team to a 3-0 second-leg victory and a place in the finals in Brazil. There was something of the spirit of 98 (when France won the World Cup with a 3-0 win over Brazil) the night France came back to qualify, that ended a years-long schism between Les Blues and their fans. The problem stemmed from South Africa 2010 when the players protested the sending home of Nicholas Anelka by boycotting a training session leaving everyone, from top to bottom, aggrieved for one reason or another, not least the first round elimination. Laurent Blanc took over the team and went 23 matches without defeat until meeting Spain in the quarters at Euro 2012. The team had no real star and Blanc had done well to get that far, but he made way for another former international from 98, Didier Deschamps. After a trophy laden playing career, the silverware followed Deschamps into the dug-out at AS Monaco, Juventus and Marseille, and the French needed a modest yet winning type such as Deschamps to help bridge the divide with the public.

Read The Full Team Profile Here

Read About France's last match Here

Nigeria Team Profile:

Nigeria had a decent group stage finish as they managed to secure the second in Group F, five points group leaders Argentina. However, their performance wasn't great as they won only one of their three group stage matches, which was against Bosnia. They were held in a goal-less draw with Iran and lost 3-2 against Argentina. With four points, they some-how managed to progress to the knock-out stage. They are up against France in the Round-of-16.

Fenerbache centre-forward Emmanuel Emenike and the Liverpool winger Victor Moses are expected to be Keshi's preferred forwards, but there are a whole string of strikers in contention. During the last CAN he only took those players willing and able to join the pre-CAN training camp, excluding for example West Brom forward Peter Odemwingie.

In midfield John Obi Mikel, also with Lille, plays a more creative role with Nigeria than he did all those years at Chelsea and he is the man relied upon in the hole behind the strikers, while Sunday Mba is a good replacement to feed the strikers when Mikel moves out left.

Read The Full Team Profile Here

-Read More about the last match Nigeria played this World Cup-

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