Nigeria 1, Bosnia-Herzegovina 0: The World Cup is a cruel place for tournament newcomers

Bosnia-Herzegovina’s first World Cup is over. The Dragons suffered their second straight defeat in Group F, this time a 1-0 loss to Nigeria in which they were both outplayed, and terribly unfortunate.

The Super Eagles utilized their superior pace and exploited a mismatch on the right side of the pitch to dominate a Bosnian side that were unlucky to have a goal taken away in the first half, but never did much afterwards to convince anyone they were worthy of winning.

The Goal

GOAL! Peter Odemwingie (NGA), 29 min. Emmanuel Emenike goes on a great run near the right flank, cuts in on Emir Spahic who takes a tumble/is tugged down, and then cuts a perfect pass to Odemwingie who nutmegs Asmir Begovic to put the Super Eagles ahead.

*****

Man of the Match - Emmanuel Emenike

The Nigerian forward owned the right side of the pitch throughout the match, causing all sorts of problems for Spahic and the rest of the Bosnian back line. His runs were thrilling, but he also did a very good job of distributing to oncoming teammates making runs of their own. 

His pace — with or without the ball — and overall strength best represents what Nigeria did so well on Saturday. They were faster and stronger than Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Controversy

An offside call on Edin Dzeko in the 20th minute was just awful. Disallowing his beautiful finish was a crime against soccer sensibility. If it had counted, it would’ve set up an entirely different match from the one that we witnessed.

Less than 15 minutes later, Bosnia-Herzegovina was again up in arms over a failure to call a foul on Emenike for bringing down Spahic before he made a pass to Odemwingie for Nigeria's goal.

What did Nigeria do to win?

They ran and ran and ran, and found a surprising amount of success muscling an often exhausted Bosnia-Herzegovina off the ball. They were faster, and that eventually made them stronger.

Interestingly enough, the Dragons insisted on using a high line from the back four despite constantly getting beat by the faster Nigerians. They failed to adapt, and they were beaten for that failure.

The Takeaway

Iran will have to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina — who are now out — and hope that Argentina beat Nigeria to let goal differential decide who goes on. Nigeria currently boast a plus one, while Iran are minus one.

It was a disappointing two losses for the debutantes, and the only role they can play now is that of spoiler for Iran.

The 1,000 Words

Stray Thoughts

In the early going, Nigeria’s midfield couldn’t keep up with Bosnia-Herzegovina’s counter. The Dragons moved through it like no one was there.

I love strikers like Edin Dzeko, who can use their size to hold up play, and still exhibit incredible speed moving the ball up the pitch. I don’t love the way Dzeko can completely disappear in a match the way he did after almost scoring in the 20th minute. With Nigeria continuing to attack even after taking the lead, Bosnia-Herzegovina needed a target up front, but Dzeko was seldom finding space to be that player. There are two parts to that, of course. Nigeria did well to limit his impact after he owned the first 20 minutes.

I also love wingers with equal parts strength and pace. Emenike may be the template for that description. What a match he had on Saturday. He was everywhere in attack, and no defender had an answer for him.

I don’t know how Bosnia justifies not starting Vedad Ibisevic. They’re a different team with two strikers up front, a better one. I suppose their thinking is that when they push up their back line, an extra holding midfielder is a good insurance policy, but a more cautious defensive unit combined with an extra striker would render that insurance policy useless.

In the attacking third, Bosnia-Herzegovina looked like they’d never played together at times. There was no flow, no oncoming runs. Everyone was static.

Begovic literally dragged a downed Nigerian off the pitch so that the match could restart. He didn’t make very many new friends among the opposition in the process.

Miralem Pjanic looked frustrated throughout the match. He was alone in going box-to-box, and had trouble finding teammates in space throughout the evening. When he finally did, they typically let the playmaker down.

How Muhamed Besic escaped a caution in this match is anyone’s guess. He was reckless throughout.

The last minute shot from Dzeko that got saved, then knocked off the post was just further evidence of the bad luck Bosnia faced. They've been the least lucky side in the tournament by a good measure.