Group F in the 2014 World Cup includes not only one of the top squads in the world but also one that has never even competed in the World Cup before. In addition, only two of the teams in this group have even faced off with one another during the history of the event.
FIFA World Cup – Group F
Argentina
Argentina was the top team in the CONMEBOL qualification series. With a goal differential of +20, La Albiceleste had two of the top scorers in qualification. Lionel Messi had ten goals and Gonzalo Higuain had nine goals to go with that.
While Messi is by far the hottest figure on the Argentinian team, Alejandro Sabella’s side also has Sergio Aguero, a Manchester City star who had 28 goals in 34 matches with Man City during this past year’s run to another Premier League title. Aguero is also a veteran of the country’s 2008 Gold Medal-winning Olympic team and won two U-20 titles. The team did struggle in a friendly in March as it had a scoreless draw with Romania.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina will be competing in the World Cup for the first time ever this year. They would sure want to embrace this massive moment in their football history with as much ease as they can. Having won their group in UEFA qualifying, the side had eight wins in ten matches and 30 goals versus six scored against the team. Edin Dzeko had ten of those goals with Vedad Ibisevic having eight more. Much of this came during an 8-1 victory of Liechtenstein.
Iran
Carlos Queiroz is coming in from Portugal to coach the Iranian soccer team during this year’s World Cup. Iran got into the World Cup this year by winning its group in the AFC and gave up only two goals in eight matches. However, the team also scored only eight goals during that same span of time.
Javad Nekounam is the most experienced player on the Iranian team. He has played in more than 130 games with the side since 2000 and was the runner-up to last year’s Asian Footballer of the Year award. This is only the fourth appearance for Iran in the World Cup as the team has never gotten any further than the group stage in any appearance.
Nigeria
Nigeria was dominant during the CAF qualification en route to this year’s World Cup. The Super Eagles will be led again by Jon Obi Mikel, a reliable player for Chelsea for the past few years.
The most noteworthy story about Nigeria is that the team has faced off against Argentina quite a bit in the past few years. The Super Eagles lost to Spain in the 2008 Summer Olympics and Mikel and Messi also met in the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2005 in a match that Spain also won. Nigeria has also faced off against Argentina three times in the World Cup and has lost in all those matches. The Super Eagles will be looking to break that drought on June 25 in Porto Alegre.