Confederations Cup
2013-06-17 - Tahiti vs Nigeria
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: FIFA Confederations Cup
Monday 17 June 2013 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Preview
Belo Horizonte is the setting for this international game and it is not an area that is unfamiliar with a huge surprise. Back in the 1950 World Cup, the United States beat England 1-0 here and it will take a shock of that magnitude for Tahiti to avoid defeat in this one against Nigeria.
Tahiti are a team that is made up of semi-professional players and they look the weakest team in the competition by a long way. It says a lot about their chances that Tahiti are only 2 places above Afghanistan in the FIFA World Rankings and Nigeria are the big favourites to win this one.
However, the tournament build up for Nigeria has hardly been smooth and the team actually missed their initial flight to Brazil in a payment dispute with the Football Association. It was eventually resolved and that meant Nigeria only flew into Brazil on Sunday morning so they will only have one training session to get themselves acclimatised to the conditions here.
Nigeria are well aware that they will have no chance to qualify for the Semi Finals if they don't win this game as that will put undue pressure on them in games against Uruguay and Spain to come. Goal difference could turn out to be an important factor in the Group and that means Nigeria will go looking for goals, although they are missing some key attacking talent in the form of Victor Moses.
While they will be looking for goals, it is clear that Tahiti will be employing a defensive shape to avoid any embarrassing results, although facing the attacking talent of Spain and Uruguay will be daunting for them. Tahiti were bashed up by Chile's Under 20 team when they were beaten 7-0 in preparation for this tournament and they are already out of the World Cup next summer.
In the qualifiers, Tahiti took a couple of heavy losses to the likes of New Zealand and New Caledonia and even earning one point from this Confederations Cup will be a huge achievement.
This is the first time that Nigeria will meet Tahiti in an international game.
Prediction
If the preparation for Nigeria had been better, I would really expect them to beat Tahiti comfortably, but the late arrival to Brazil has to be a concern. They are also missing a couple of key figures, but Nigeria should still be too good and I'll back them on the Asian Handicap.
The Pick :
Tahiti 0-4 Nigeria
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Nigeria - 3 Asian Handicap @ 2.10
