Super Eagles drawn against perennial rivals Argentina alongside Croatia and Iceland in Russia 2018

NIGERIA'S Super Eagles have been drawn in Group of the 2018 World Cup alongside perennial adversaries Argentina along with Europeans Croatia and Iceland following the conclusion of the draws earlier today in Moscow.

At the draw which took place this afternoon at the Kremlin in Moscow, Nigeria were drawn to play Croatia in Kaliningrad on June 16, Iceland in Volgograd on June 22 and Argentina in Saint Petersburg on June 26. Of the six times Nigeria has qualified for the World Cup, the Super Eagles will have faced Argentina five times in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018 and head coach Gernot Rohr will be heartened by the fact his team recently beat the South Americans 4-2 in a friendly.

In previous World Cups, Nigeria has always lost to Argentina, but the Super Eagles have triumphed over Albiceleste in the 1996 Olympic final and last month they beat them in a friendly in Russia. In what turned out to be a big morale booster, Mr Rohr's charges came from two down to bear Argentina 4-2 in the Russian city of Krasnodar on November 14.

If Nigeria ends up topping her group, she will likely face either Denmark or Peru on July 1 in the last 16 and if the Eagles triumph there, they will most probably face Spain in the quarter finals on July 7. Back in France 1998 Nigeria beat Spain 3-2 in what is the Eagles biggest giant killing act in the World Cup.

Of late, the Eagles have attracted a lot of interest and respect following their 4-2 victory over Argentina and the ease with which the team qualified for the World Cup. Emerging undefeated from what was seen as the group of death, Nigeria beat Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia to clinch the ticket for Russia 2018.