Iceland assistant coach: We expect Nigeria to be stronger than Ghana

by Graeme Jackson

Thursday Jun 21, 2018. 12:30

Iceland assistant coach Helgi Koldvidsson says his team is expecting Nigeria to be stronger opponents that Ghana, having played against the latter in a recent friendly.

Iceland played to a 2-2 draw with the Black Stars in Reykjavik on June 7 as part of their warm-up programme for the 2018 World Cup.

The Ghanaian team was obviously chosen because they would represent a similar style and strength to that offered by Nigeria, who Iceland face in their second Group D clash, set for the Volgograd Arena on Friday.

Koldvidsson says the Super Eagles should be a tougher opponent that Ghana, with Iceland coming into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw with Argentina last weekend.

“We saw in that game that [Ghana] are really good one against one,” the Nordic side’s assistant explained.

“Nigeria has even stronger players. They are trying to look for situations were they can get one on one,” Koldvidsson added.

“They won't be trying to play through us which was the main thing in the Argentinian match.”

Nigeria suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Croatia in their World Cup opener and need to beat debutants Iceland to have any realistic chance of advancing into the last 16.

Argentina and Croatia will meet in the group’s other second round clash, set for Nizhny Novgorod tonight.