Iran vs. Nigeria – Match Preview

Persianfootball.com – CURITIBA, Team Melli will kick off its 2014 World Cup Finals campaign Monday against Nigeria in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba.

This will be the first meeting in a World Cup between Team Melli and the Super Eagles. For Iran it will be there their 4^th World Cup appearance and first since 2006 and for Nigeria their 5^th. Their last being in 2010.

Both teams are coming off poor performances in their previous World cups. In 2006, Iran finished last in a group that included Portugal, Mexico and Angola, leaving the tournament with a 1 point consolation prize in their last match against Angola after already having been eliminated. Nigeria didn’t fare much better in 2010 finishing last in their group behind Argentina, South Korea and Greece, also exiting with 1 point.

Both Iran Manager Carlos Queiroz and Nigeria boss Stephen Keshi have a tough task ahead of Monday’s match. Nigeria will be missing Monaco left-back Elderson Echiejile who is out with a torn hamstring and if that was not enough, the players and Nigerian Football Federation are in a dispute over appearance fees.

Iran is in less trouble as far as injuries go with left back Hashem Beikzadeh being day to day after a slight injury in a friendly against Montenegro on May 26. However, Iran has suffered from a lack of proper preparations the past year leading up to the finals due to a lack of funds on the part of the Iranian Football Federation, although the final preparations since April have been relatively trouble-free for Iranian standards.

Kick-off is 16:00 local time.

Possible line-ups based on previous match:

Iran: Haghighi; Montazeri, Hosseini, Sadeghi, Pouladi; Teymourian, Nekounam; Heydari, Dejagah, Hajsafi; Ghoochannejhad.

Nigeria: Enyeama; Ambrose, Oboabona, Omerou, Oshaniwa; Mikel, Onazi, Azeez, Moses; Odemwingie, Emenike.