WILL NIGERIA JOIN CROATIA TO QUALIFY FROM GROUP D? LET'S DO THE CALCULATION TOGETHER

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It was a memorable evening for Nigerians yesterday as their hope of making it to the next stage of the on-going world cup tournament in Russia was revived.

Hitherto last night, many had expressed pessimism as to the fate of the super eagles. The reasons are not far-fetched. The Super Eagles lost to Croatia in their previous match. Iceland on the other hand was able to hold Argentina to a 1-1 draw. Everyone had hoped Argentina would easily crouch over Iceland. For Iceland to be able to withstand star-studded Argentina, many argued Nigeria would not pose any serious threat to them(Iceland).

Thanks to Ahmed Musa for his two beautiful goals. Rays of hope now illuminate the mind of every Nigerian. But will Nigeria qualify? Let's look at the statistics.

Croatia has 6 points already. Whether they lose, draw or win their next match, it will not affect their qualification. They have already advanced to the round of 16.

Nigeria has 3 points having lost their first match to Croatia. Their next match is with Argentina. If they win Argentina, they will qualify. If they get a draw, they might qualify if either of these conditions are met: Croatia wins or draws with Iceland or Iceland wins Croatia and Nigeria's goal difference is greater than Iceland's.

Argentina has only 1 point having drawn with Iceland and lost to Croatia. They can only qualify if they win Nigeria and also meet either of these conditions: Croatia wins or draws with Iceland or Iceland wins Croatia and Argentina's goal difference is higher than that of Iceland.

Iceland also has only 1 point having lost to Nigeria and drawn with Argentina. For them to qualify, they must win Croatia and meet these conditions too: Argentina wins or draws with Nigeria. If Argentina wins Nigeria, the goal difference of Iceland must be higher than that of Argentina for them(Iceland) to qualify. If Argentina draws with Nigeria, Iceland will only qualify if Nigeria's goal difference is lower.

In a nutshell, for Nigeria to qualify, they need to win or get a draw with Argentina in their next match. If they get a draw, Iceland needs not to win Croatia. Perhaps Iceland wins, the goal difference will now determine who qualifies between Nigeria and Iceland.

From the above, we can rightly infer that the battle is not yet over. However, Nigeria stands a good chance of qualifying. If they can improve on the game they played today, they should be able to withstand Argentina. Besides, the Iceland they beat today was able to do it. If they could, Nigeria can.

Let's keep our fingers crossed till 26th June, the judgement day.

I pray the scale of favour tilts towards the Super Eagles.

Who do you think would join Croatia in group D. I will read your comments below.

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I AM @winningman