3 reasons England would want a friendly against Nigeria

Reports have emerged that the English FA have written to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) concerning a friendly game.

The Three Lions of England just like the Super Eagles of Nigeria have already qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the English FA have started to draw preparation plan for the Gareth Southgate team.

Although the NFF are yet to confirm the report, we look at why England would want to play a friendly game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

1. To prepare for African opposition

Since the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, England have faced five African countries in seven World Cup tournaments.

They faced Morocco in Mexico 1986, Egypt in Italy 1990, Tunisia in France 1998, Nigeria in Korea/Japan 2002, Algeria and South Africa 2010.

For the draw, teams will be divided into four pots of eight, with one team selected from each pot to form a group.

For the 2018 FIFA World Cup, all draws will be determined by each national team's October 2017 FIFA World Ranking.

Pot 1 containing the highest-ranked teams, Pot 2 containing the next highest-ranked teams, and so on;

England who are 12th are likely to be in Pot 2 while African countries will be in Pot 2 and Pot 3 and Pot 4.

With this set-up, England will very likely get one of the five African representatives.

2. Poor record against Africans countries in the World Cup

In five FIFA World Cup games against African countries, England have only won two, the 1-0 win in 1990 and the 2-0 win over Tunisia in 1998. In 1986, they failed to beat Egypt, Nigeria in 2002 and Algeria in 2010, all these games finishing goalless.

A friendly against Nigeria would be the accurate preparation for England ahead of next year’s World Cup.

3. General preparation

England have played lots of games and friendly games in the last two years against European and South American opposition.

A friendly game against Nigeria presents something new and different which might be what they need ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.