The Nigerians have a great belief in their football team nicknamed “The Super Eagles” and are pretty confident of qualification to the next round to the extent of arrogance. Majority of the Nigerian experts and analyst dismiss Iran as a serious opponent, focusing instead on Bosnia and Argentina. The World Press seems to be following that inclination. With many of their players making their living in European leagues, Nigeria seems to be favored against the lessor known Iranians who have a handful of players. All The Iranian players in European league play in very modest teams, with every single one of them struggling against relegation. Even with such teams, Only Davari and Dejagah feature regularly in their teams while the other two are peripheral players.

So , it is no wonder that Nigeria is considered to be the favorite to beat Iran.

Here is one analysis to support the belief that Nigeria is one of the top 10 Dark Horses teams that might surprise the world:

This may be a slightly odd selection, especially since Nigeria will have to withstand Argentina and Bosnia/Herzegovina to have a chance at even making the Round of 16. However, the defending Africa Cup of Nations champions have a decent array of weapons at their disposal, with John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses expected to lead their midfield and Emmanuel Emenike as arguably their top striker, as well as Vincent Enyeama having put up solid goalkeeping performances for Lille this past year. Especially since their draw could have been a lot worse – just ask Ghana – don’t be too surprised if the Super Eagles put up more of a fight in Brazil than you’d expect.

However , Team Melli is much stronger than what the Nigerians think. The African Champions self-belief perhaps even over confidence, might nicely work for Querioz’s men. None of the star players mentioned in the above brief is a regular starter for their teams. Obi Mikel has only a handful of matches with Chelsea , so has Moses who seems to be a permanent sub at Liverpool. Emmanuel Emenike whose nickname is the Beast , has hardly set the Turkish League alight , although he did suffer some injury , yet his 3 goals in the season 2013-14 for Fenerbache, is hardly a record that can be frightening for his opponents.

Nigeria has some hard working midfield players and a good defense line, but they are not formidable as seen in the African Cup and the qualification rounds. The teams plays physical football and at times rough and reckless. They have weaknesses that Queiroz can work upon. One of which is if Nigeria falls behind, their players tend to panic. They have also shown traces of indiscipline tactically and on individual basis.

The squad itself is not at its ideal conditions with Head Coach Stephen Keshi, and his employer, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) having differences. Believes that Keshe needs the support of assistance coach with experience, while Keshi sees that as a threat to his authority. Such quarrels has already trickled into the camp. Some of Nigeria’s recent shortcomings were apparent during the match vs. Ghana in the CHAN semi-final match. Although the Ghanaian team was reduced to ten men, the Super Eagles could not find an answer to their power game and eventually lost to them. It was also alleged that during the CHAN match with Zimbabwe for the third place, the Super Eagles could again not find a way to convincingly overwhelm the team despite the fact that one of their players got a red card in the 17th minute of the game.

The strength of Iran against Nigeria will be in the tight defense that will not allow the Nigerians to breathe, a similar tactics that Carlos Queiroz deployed against a much organized South Korean team at home and away during the World Cup qualifiers. Iran has also several individual talented players who can produce some magic and surprise the Nigerians.

There are quite a few good lessons that Iran has learned from the defeat against Nigeria in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, mainly is the ability of the Nigerians to run tirelessly.

In brief, both teams have equal chances of winning. The so-called expertise who claim Nigeria as being superior to Iran, based such judgment on superficial information of Iranian football , and that is expected because of Iran’s low profile in European football scene.

Reality is something else. Iran has the strength in depth to defeat Nigeria. The onus is on Queiroz to use his expertise and motivational power to make his players believe in their ability and their capacity to surprise their opponents.