The 2018 world cup is just a few days away and almost all of the top teams have announced the squad that is going to participate in the game. This shows that they are ready to take on the challenge and put everything they have into winning one of the most coveted competitions in the world.
There are several groups in the completion and each of this group simply consist of four teams from different parts of the world. The rule of the game is that only two of the teams with the highest point is going to qualify for the next round of the competition.
Nigeria is one of the country participating in the completion and they are in group D. the other members of this group are Argentina, Croatia and Iceland. What this means is that Nigeria must be in the first two in their group to qualify.
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In this article we are going to look at the team’s one after the other, especially looking at the squad they are taking to the world cup;
2018 World Cup Group D Squad
- Argentina
This is the country of one of the best footballers in the world, Lionel Messi. This country has always been paired with Nigeria and they were in the same group in 1994, 2002, 2010 and 2015. The team squad include;
| PLAYER | AGE | POSITION | |
| 1 | Sergio Romero | 31 | GK |
| 2 | Franco Armani | 31 | GK |
| 3 | Willy Caballero | 36 | GK |
| 4 | Cristian Ansaldi | 31 | Defender |
| 5 | Marcos Rojo | 28 | Defender |
| 6 | Marcos Acuña | 26 | Defender |
| 7 | Nicolás Tagliafico | 25 | Defender |
| 8 | Gabriel Mercado | 31 | Defender |
| 9 | Nicolás Otamendi | 30 | Defender |
| 10 | Javier Mascherano | 33 | Defender |
| 11 | Federico Fazio | 31 | Defender |
| 12 | Ever Banega | 29 | Midfielder |
| 13 | Lucas Biglia | 31 | Midfielder |
| 14 | Giovani Lo Celso | 22 | Midfielder |
| 15 | Eduardo Salvio | 27 | Midfielder |
| 16 | Cristian Pavón | 22 | Midfielder |
| 17 | Maximiliano Meza | 26 | Midfielder |
| 18 | Ángel Di María | 30 | Midfielder |
| 19 | Manuel Lanzini | 25 | Forward |
| 20 | Leo Messi | 31 | Forward |
| 21 | Paulo Dybala | 24 | Forward |
| 22 | Kun Agüero | 29 | Forward |
| 23 | Gonzalo Higuaín | 30 | Forward |
- Iceland
This team has never played Nigeria in the world cup but they have had a friendly match with Nigeria which they won by three goals to nothing. They also are in group D and will be playing Nigeria on Friday 22nd of June. Their squad have already traveled and are training in Russia ahead of the competition;
Goalkeeper
- Frederik August Schram
- Hannes Thór Halldórsson
- Rúnar Rúnarsson
Defender
- Hördur Magnusson
- Holmar Örn Eyjolfsson
- Ragnar Sigurdsson
- Birkir Mar Saevarsson
- Ari Freyr Skúlason
- Kári Arnason
- Sverrir Ingi Ingason
- Midfielder
- Birkir Bjarnason
- Gylfi Sigurdsson
- Olafur Ingi Skulason
- Arnor Ingvi Traustason
- Aron Gunnarsson
- Rúrik Gíslason
- Emil Hallfredsson
- Samúel Kari Fridjónsson
Attacking Midfielder
- Johann Berg Gudmundsson
Striker
- Albert Gudmundsson
- Jón Dadi Bödvarsson
- Alfred Finnbogason
- Björn Sigurdarson
- Croatia
Just like Iceland Croatia has also not met Nigeria before in the world cup and this is the first time the two teams are meeting. Croatia squad include;
| PLAYER | AGE | POSITION | |
| 1 | Danijel Subašić | 33 | GK |
| 2 | Lovre Kalinić | 27 | GK |
| 3 | Dominik Livaković | 23 | GK |
| 4 | Vedran Ćorluka | 32 | Defender |
| 6 | Domagoj Vida | 28 | Defender |
| 7 | Ivan Strinić | 30 | Defender |
| 8 | Šime Vrsaljko | 26 | Defender |
| 9 | Josip Pivarić | 29 | Defender |
| 10 | Tin Jedvaj | 22 | Defender |
| 11 | Dejan Lovren | 28 | Defender |
| 12 | Matej Mitrović | 33 | Defender |
| 13 | Luka Modrić (C) | 32 | Midfielder |
| 14 | Ivan Rakitić | 30 | Midfielder |
| 15 | Ivan Perišić | 29 | Midfielder |
| 16 | Mateo Kovačić | 23 | Midfielder |
| 17 | Marko Rog | 22 | Midfielder |
| 18 | Marcelo Brozović | 25 | Midfielder |
| 19 | Milan Badelj | 29 | Midfielder |
| 20 | Mario Mandžukić | 31 | Forward |
| 21 | Nikola Kalinić | 30 | Forward |
| 22 | Andrej Kramarić | 26 | Forward |
| 23 | Marko Pjaca | 22 | Forward |
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- Nigeria
Finally, Nigeria will have to be the first or second in group D to qualify for the next stage. They also have a 23 man squad heading for the competition which will officially kick-off on June 16. The team’s squad include;
Goalkeepers:
Francis Uzoho (Deportivo La Coruna), Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Enyimba), Daniel Akpeyi (Chippa United).
Defenders:
William Troost-Ekong and Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor), Tyronne Ebuehi (Ado Den Haag), Elderson Echiejile (Cercle Brugge KSV), Bryan Idowu (Amkar Perm), Chidozie Awaziem (Nantes FC), Leon Balogun (Brighton), Kenneth Omeruo (Kasimpasa).
Midfielders:
Mikel John Obi (Tianjin Teda), Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City), Oghenekaro Etebo (Las Palmas), John Ogu (Hapoel Be’er Sheva), Joel Obi (Torino, Italy).
Forwards:
Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow), Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City), Victor Moses (Chelsea), Odion Ighalo (Changchun Yatai), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Simeon Nwankwo (Crotone).
Which country do you think that will make it to the 2018 World Cup final? please use the comment box below to share your thought.