Final, 2-0 France: It’s all over in Brasilia. Les Blues down the Super Eagles and advance to the quarterfinal.
Pogba and Yobo’s goals provided the difference in scoreline, but the game was much closer than the result suggests. France and Nigeria were deadlocked for the first 65 minutes, until France coach Didier Deschamps removed Giroud and introduced Griezmann into the action.
France’s attack instantly improved, and Les Blues would have scored before they finally did were it not for Enyeama’s saves. But the Nigeria goalkeeper will regret his error, which lead to Pogba’s goal. From there, France continued to push forward, while the Super Eagles lost their wings.
Nigeria exits at the Round of 16, while France moves on to the last eight. Les Blues will face either Algeria or Germany on Friday in the quarterfinal. Fans are hoping they continue to entertain.
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That’s all for now and thanks for joining us. Let’s discuss this one on Twitter @NESNsoccer and Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for some news, fan reactions, analysis and opinion that is on the way on NESN.com.
90th minute +3, 2-0 France: France makes a late substitution. Sissoko replaces Valbuena, who had a fantastic game.
90th minute +1, 2-0 France: There it is. France takes a two-goal lead.
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After a short corner kick, Valbuena found Griezmann in the Nigeria penalty area. Griezmann appeared to score with a clever back-heel, but it deflected off Yobo and went in the goal.
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89th minute, 1-0 France: It doesn’t look like Nigeria has the legs or the attacking quality to score the game-tying goal. France continues to assert itself and looks more likely to score than Nigeria.
Forward Uche Nwofor comes on for Moses, but it’s probably too late for him to make the necessary impact.
84th minute, 1-0 France: Griezmann looks to double France’s lead, but Enyeama saves his powerful shot over the crossbar.
79th minute, 1-0 France: Pogba scores the long-awaited goal, and France leads with a little more than 10 minutes to play.
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Moments after making a fantastic save on Benzema’s header, Enyeama failed to punch Valbuena’s corner kick from the penalty area, and it floated to Pogba, who headed it into the open goal.
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77th minute, 0-0: Cabaye hits the crossbar, as France enjoys its best spell in the second half.
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71st minute, 0-0: Nigeria’s right back, Ambrose, is limping toward the sideline.
70th minute, 0-0: Griezmann and Benzema combine to slice open the heart of Nigeria’s defense, but Enyeama races off his line and saves Benzema’s shot.
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The ball then bounced toward the goal line, but Moses arrived in time to clear it out. Goal-line technology tells the soccer world “no goal.” We didn’t need it in this case, but it’s nice to have around.
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68th minute, 0-0: Nigeria started the second half better than France did. The Super Eagles are threatening from the wide areas. They need a little more quality on the final pass or shot in order to beat Lloris and break the deadlock.
64th minute, 0-0: Odemwingie’s left-footed shot from distance sneaks through the legs of France’s defenders, but Lloris saves it, and a teammate clears the danger.
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62nd minute, 0-0: Griezmann replaces Giroud, as France makes a change to its front line.
Benzema will move to a central position, while Griezmann and Valbuena will operate on either side of him.
60th minute, 0-0: Emenike cuts inside and shoots, but his effort goes well high of Lloris’ goal.
59th minute, 0-0: Ruben Gabriel replaces his injured teammate Onazi.
54th minute, 0-0: Matuidi is cautioned for a challenge on Onazi, who is back down and receiving treatment.
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Onazi was stretchered off the field earlier but returned to the game. The Nigeria midfielder is being stretchered off for a second time.
52nd minute, 0-0: Nigeria moved the ball into a good position, but Moses couldn’t pull of a skillful move.
Now Varane is down inside the France goal after a powerfully hit cross struck him in the temple.
46th minute, 0-0: The second half is underway.
France’s strikers must do a better job of connecting.
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Halftime, 0-0: That’s the end of the first half. It’s still goalless.
There’s no telling which team will come out on top. The first 30 minutes of France-Nigeria was fast, direct and exciting. It would have had goals as well, were it not for goalkeeping heroics and a debateable offside call.
44th minute, 0-0: Emenike fires a powerful shot on goal, but Lloris punches it away. The play ends when Moses is whistled for a handball.
Emenike is lively and showing a hunger for goals against France. The Nigeria striker hasn’t scored in the 2014 World Cup — he has two assists.
41st minute, 0-0: Here are the possession stats so far.
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39th minute, 0-0: Debuchy misses wide with a right-footed shot from inside the area. The France fullback is angry with himself for failing to hit the target.
38th minute, 0-0: Almost on cue, the pace of the game has slowed in recent minutes. The teams are struggling to establish control of the game, and the plot could turn on a mistake rather than the concerted efforts of one side or the other.
29th minute, 0-0: The first half hour has been fast, competitive and fair.
The clash between two teams that are not shy about attacking with pace is producing an interesting and entertaining contest.
22nd minute, 0-0: Pogba nearly scores one of the great goals of the 2014 World Cup, but Enyeama denies him with an equally stunning save.
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Pogba went on an imperial march through the midfield with the ball at his feet for 40 yards before playing it wide to Valbuena, who instantly passed it back to his teammate. Pogba then volleyed his shot on goal, but the Nigera goalkeeper made a great reflex save.
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19th minute, 0-0: Nigeria appears to score, but it’s disallowed.
Musa crossed to Emenike, who expertly tapped it home, but the referee’s assistant waves his flag, signalling that the Nigeria striker was offside.
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Onazi is back in the game.
15th minute, 0-0: Giroud shoots high and wide.
France created the chance with a quick counter-attack by Benzema and Valbuena, but Giroud’s shot didn’t match the quality of the build-up.
13th minute, 0-0: Nigeria central midfielder Onazi is down.
Onazi suffered an apparent ankle injury, after his legs were entangled with those of Pogba during a challenge. Onazi is being stretchered off the field.
Seventh minute, 0-0: There has been lots of end-to-end action in the opening minutes, but it ultimately hasn’t amounted to any clear-cut scoring chances.
Both teams are young and athletic, so the game could continue at this pace, despite the conditions — 81 degrees (27 Celsius) and 33 percent humidity at kickoff.
Second minute, 0-0: France fullback Debuchy appears to have some shoulder discomfort after falling awkwardly in a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge with Omeruo. Debuchy will continue playing.
First minute, 0-0: The Round of 16 game between France and Nigeria is underway.
An American referee, Mark Geiger, is in charge of this game.
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Pregame: The teams are coming onto the field for the national anthems.
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11:45 a.m.: Here are the lineups:
France
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Nigeria
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11:30 a.m. ET: Four teams have already booked places in the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. France and Nigeria are both looking to become the fifth.
“Les Blues” of France meet Nigeria’s “Super Eagles” in a Round of 16 game on Monday at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, Brazil. The winner of this game will advance to the last eight where it will meet the winner of Germany-Algeria, which takes place later Monday.
France reached the Round of 16 by finishing first in Group E. Les Blues easily dispatched Honduras in their opener before throttling Switzerland in their second game. Ecuador held France to a goalless draw in the group finale, and Les Blues won the group with seven points.
Nigeria earned its place in the knockout rounds by coming in second in Group F. The Super Eagles played Iran to a goalless draw in their first game but defeated Bosnia in their second. Nigeria then lost to Argentina, but still progressed to the next stage.
France is the favorite in the matchup against Nigeria. “Les Blues” scored eight goals in their first two group-stage games before firing blanks against Ecuador. Karim Benzema and Co. are keen to return to their free-scoring ways.
However, Nigeria is dangerous going forward and could be primed for a breakout game. Winger Ahmed Musa scored twice against Argentina, and striker Emmanuel Emenike is itching to end his goal drought.
The game kicks off at noon. Stay right here for all the action.
