World Cup: John Obi Mikel And Olivier Giroud Clash
Nigeria vs France took part in a very interesting contest of football. The two sides met in the first knockout round of the 2014 World Cup, and France ended up eliminating the African side. Both teams enjoyed their share of possession early on as Valbuena was running the show for France. however Nigeria seemed to counter with their pace and strength illustrated by their front man Emmanuel Emenike.
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John Obi Mikel was not as influential as Nigeria might of hoped, as he labored on the ball at times, and couldn’t find those killer passes in the final third. Mikel’s day was summed up when he blamed France’s Giroud for an unsporting elbow. Mikel said “Yes I got an elbow and the referee saw it and he only gave him a warning, not even a yellow card, nothing. It was bad” (Mirror Football).
This is not the first time Mikel has gotten into a on field battle with an Arsenal player. The 2007 Carling cup final between Arsenal and Chelsea contained a big brawl which was seemingly started by Mikel and Kolo Toure. Although Mikel believed Giroud should of been sent off he also stated that “Giroud is not a dirty player with Arsenal so this must of happened because of the heat of the moment” (Mirror football).
Furthermore the star of the match was the young midfielder Paul Pogba who has been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea. Pogba was composed on the ball, showed tenacity with his challenges for the ball, and linked play with the forward line well. Not to mention Pogba scored the all important first goal of the match. The flop of the match was Victor Moses, who again shows why he cant be trusted to play for a top team.
Moses is indecisive, and generally chooses the wrong decision in the final third. He does not know when to shoot or cross, and tends to over dribble thus forfeiting the space which he creates with his pace. Victor Moses’s loan deal with Liverpool has expired, and it will be unsurprising if he is sold by Chelsea. This was a good match of football, and showed both the beautiful parts of the game and some ugly parts.
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