Spain v Nigeria Prediction 23rd June 2013 – Confederations Cup

Spain v Nigeria Betting Preview
From the very start, Vicente del Bosque’s world champions were expected to go out and win Group B of the Confederations Cup. They are well on their way with two wins from two and a plus eleven goal difference in their favour. As for Nigeria, they go in second place on Sunday, but realistically need to pull out a win over Spain to get through. That is because they are on level points with Uruguay who are expected to run riot over Tahiti in their final match. The African representatives really have to push for a major upset here.

Spain v Nigeria Betting Odds at online bookmaker Bet Victor
Spain 2/9, Draw 19/4, Nigeria 11/1

Online bookmaker Promotion
There is some insurance to take on all Confederations Cup betting at online betting site Bet Victor. Their promotion comes in the form of a Red Card Refund. If any player is shown a red card in a Confederations Cup match, then the bookie will refund all losing Correct Score, First Goalscorer, last Goalscorer, Scorecast and Half Time/Full Time bets on that particular match up a maximum of £25. Nigeria have to come out and have a go at winning this one, so it should be a high intensity match. There is up to a free £25 bet available for new customers registering an account with online betting site Bet Victor, as the bookie will match the value of your first settled bet on an account.

Spain v Nigeria Recommended Bet:
It was largely as second string Spanish side which hammered Tahiti 10-0 to follow up their opening win over Uruguay. Technically all four sides in the Group can still qualify but Spain do have that massive goal difference advantage. The only way that they are not going to get through is if they lose by four goals or more, which is just so highly unlikely. So Spain are likely to run out winners of Group A really, and keep everything as it was expected to be. Spain were excellent in their opening match against Uruguay, playing some beautifully fluent football and professionally seeing off the challenge of what could have been a tough threat from the South Americans. Spain are just going to keep the ball and knock it around, and pick their passes. The through-balls behind defences that they produce are simply sublime. It is hard for any side to match up with them, especially when they slip into their top, fluent gear. They will be calling on the services of likes of Andres Iniesta, Iker Casillas and co who they rested for the Tahiti match.

It is hard to see Spain not getting on the scoresheet here and they will probably start without David Villa and Fernando Torres who scored seven goals between them against Tahiti. Roberto Soldado, who started and scored against Uruguay will probably get the nod. It is a run of 27 international matches now for Spain without suffering a defeat. Impressive. Everything about them is. The Super Eagles had their own long unbeaten run snapped when they lost their second Confederations Cup match against Uruguay. Nigeria lost the game 2-1 despite a spirited display and that was their first ever defeat in the history of the tournament. They finished third at the 2005 Confederations Cup, losing the runner up match on a penalty shoot out against Mexico.

Nigeria really somehow need to find a way to beat the World Champions if they want their tournament to continue. They missed the boat badly against Uruguay, because the South Americans were there for the taking. The Super Eagles actually played some neat stuff, knocking the ball around with confidence against Uruguay but they lacked a final punch. So their unbeaten streak, which had lasted for over a year, has ended and now a second defeat may not be far behind. They may have to go without striker Nnamdi Odaumadi for this one as well who was injured against Uruguay. The odds really aren’t stacking up that well for the Africa Cup of Nations champions in this one. They haven’t beaten a European side since back in 2009 when they beat France in an international friendly.

Spain will be heavily backed in this one to get the job done. They have the experience and the class to make it happen. They can play at a different level and it could be worth looking at a Spain/Spain Half Time/Full Time bet for an extra bit of value at a price of 3/4 with online bookmaker Bet Victor.

Form
Spain DWWWWW, Nigeria DDWDWL

In the Spain v Nigeria head to head, there has only been one previous meeting. That actually went in favour of the African side, and was a costly defeat for Spain as it helped to get them knocked them out of the 1998 World Cup group stage.