Game 29 Recap: Nigeria 1-0 Bosnia/Herzegovina

NIGERIA 1-0 BOSNIA/HERZEGOVINA

A superior effort by Nigeria in this critical Group F match was awarded with 3 points in a game that was overshadowed by a pair of controversial officiating decisions.

Those officiating decisions doomed Bosnia and Herzegovina to an early exit in this World Cup and potentially altered the entire course of the group.

It was a frantic opening half hour to this match with both sides getting a number of chances and the action shooting back and forth up the field. Nigeria got the better of the early chances forcing Asmir Begovic in to a diving save on Ogenyi Onazi and seeing a couple other shots stray just wide of goal.

Despite the Nigerian pressure, Bosnia appeared to get on the board first. Edin Dzeko was played through the Nigerian line in front of goal and tipped the ball past an onrushing Vincent Enyeama. Clearly onside by a considerable margin, the linesman's flag went up and nullified what should have been a legitimate Bosnian opening goal.

Bosnian pressure continued on Enyeama's net but it was Nigeria in the 29th minute that found a goal. The second of two critical calls in the game, Emmanuel Emenike threw Emir Spahic to the ground in a battle for the ball outside the Bosnian area. Appeared to be a clear foul, but the ref swallowed his whistle and Emenike slid the ball across to an open Peter Odemwingie for a 1-0 lead.

Bosnia seemed to deflate after the pair of decisions. Nigeria began getting the better of run in play and spent the first dozen minutes of the second half raining shots on Begovic's goal. Most of the pressure came from Emenike who was dominant in this game, resembling a freight train attacking the Bosnian defenders with his size and speed.

Desperation set in for Bosnia as the clock wound down and resulted in their 2 best chances of the game in injury time. Dzeko rose to meet a Miralem Pjanic cross in the penalty area but his header was straight in to the chest of Enyeama. Dzeko would again have a last-gasp effort in front. Neatly brought down a long ball and turned to fire. Enyeama guessed right on the shot though and dove in time to get his body in front of the ball and deflect the shot in to the post and harmlessly out.

Goals

Nigeria: Peter Odemwingie (29')
Bosnia: N/A

Discipline

Nigeria: John Obi Mikel (Yellow 81')
Bosnia: Haris Medunjanin (Yellow 6')

Man of the Match

Peter Odemwingie, the goalscorer was named Man of the Match. Actual Man of the Match was Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike. Bosnia's central defence had absolutely no answer for Emenike all game. His speed and power allowed him to continually blow past the Bosnian players and he had several opportunities at goal that were saved or went just wide. Did all of the work on the Nigerian goal to track down the ball, beat Emir Spahic and make the perfect delivery to Odemwingie.

Key Moment

In a stretch of 10 minutes, two terrible calls went against Bosnia. Edin Dzeko should have gotten Bosnia on the board with a 21st minute goal but the linesman flagged for offside. Dzeko was at least a yard onside and directly even with the linesman. 8 minutes later, Emmanuel Emenike got an arm around the chest of defender Emir Spahic and swept his legs out from under him. No foul was called and Emenike placed a perfect pass to Peter Odemwingie for the only goal of the game. What should have been a 1-0 Bosnia game became a 1-0 Nigeria game and it stayed that way until the end.

What we learned from Nigeria

Dangerous offensively when they play the way they did tonight. Emenike and the wingers were able to physically power their way down to the Bosnian goal line on the ball. What was best today was the play of their midfielders. They took advantage of a lax effort by the Bosnian midfield to continually get in position to assist and provide quality shots from range that had Asmir Begovic very busy.

What we learned from Bosnia

Didn't lose this game due to a lack of skill or ability. Frankly it appeared Bosnia just didn't care as much and wasn't willing to match Nigeria's effort. Midfielders were slow getting back on defence, little in the way of off-ball movement offensively. Nigeria flat out wanted this game a lot more then Bosnia. Can't teach that unfortunately, you either want to succeed or not and Bosnia didn't appear to want enough today.

Going Forward 

Bosnia entered with high hopes in this tournament but are eliminated with a game left to play. They'll feel cheated by the officiating in this match but offered little in the way of bounce-back potential.

Nigeria have a tough match ahead but barring a shock victory by Iran over Bosnia, will go through to the knockout round.