World Cup 2014 Brazil » Round of 16 » Live commentary: France - Nigeria 2:0

Goooal for France, 2:0 by Joseph Yobo (own goal)
France is heading to the quarter final! Matthieu Valbuena delivers a cross to the six yard box and pressured by Griezmann the centre back redirects the ball into his own net.

Speaking of stoppage time: It's five minutes! Seems high but we'll take the thrill.

"Allez Les Blues" from the stands, but the majority has been on Nigeria's side today. It might not help after all.

Five minutes remain for the Super Eagles, which try to find a hole in the French wall.

Finally we're seeing glances of the French team that stomped through the group stage! Griezmann is brought into play on the left with a nice diagonal pass and sees his effort tipped over the top by Enyeama.

Goooal for France, 1:0 by Paul Pogba
France has upped the tempo and France has earned the lead! The ensuing corner is misjudged by Enyeama and Pogba nods it into an empty net.

France is getting closer! The favorite does not let up and Cabaye hits the crossbar.

Does this mark the start of a strong finish for France? The Équipe is applying more and more pressure.

Benzema has to provide the lead! A brilliant one-two with Antoine Griezmann sends the Madrid star into the box, whose shot is initially blocked by Enyeama but bounces goalwards anyway. Moses is back in time to clear off the line!

Matthieu Valbuena delivers a free-kick into the box, but France forces are completely outnumbered and can't get to the ball.

Olivier Giroud couldn't convince today and Benzema probably will move into the centre forward spot in the remainder. Can the substitute inject some pace and playmaking to his side?

It took a while until the next stop in play, but now Gabriel takes over for the injured teammate.

Aerial balls from both teams have been subpar at best and this corner from Nigeria is no exception.

Blaise Matuidi (France) is shown a yellow card
The midfielder is well late with a challenge in midfield and is rightfully booked for that boisterous tackle.

Victor Moses receives a fine ball over the top into the right penalty area, has support, but is exclusively looking for his own shot and runs into a wall of defenders.

Juwon Oshaniwa needs medical attention after colliding with Mathieu Debuchy. Looks like the centre back can continue.

Giroud wrestles through on the left flank in a first approach, but his cross flies untouched through the box.

Both coaches make no changes after the break.

Halftime Summary:
Although the game offered a faster pace than the ones we saw yesterday, chances are hard to come by today as well. France had some success working the flanks, but the crosses from mostly Matthieu Valbuena and Blaise Matuidi can't find forwards Benzema and Giroud. Nigeria physically shut down midfield and tried to get out in transition, but outnumbered they were limited to some individual efforts. Stay tuned!

The clock runs down without another approach although France has one final setpiece and so we're heading into the break!

This time the French keeper has to punch one away as Emenike challenges him form the edge of the box. Moses picks up the rebound but is whistled for a handball.

Debuchy misses wide! Matuidi creates space with a neat fake in midfield and sets up Matthieu Valbuena on the right. His cross into the danger area is fired towards goal by the full back and from 15 yards he should have delivered that one on target at least.

The favorite more and more controls possession and keeps the African Nation Cup winner busy in its half.

The combinations from France are fluid, they just can't get that last pass to a teammate right now. Blaise Matuidi wins another corner on the left, but Varane can't gather the long delivery.

France might be the more skilled side, but Nigeria is winning the battle in midfield so far and draws a lot of fouls that way.

The pace of the game remains fairly high. Both teams try to get into their offense as quick as possible.

What s save by Vincent Enyeama! A superb run by Paul Pogba through midfield sets up Matthieu Valbuena on the right who delivers the delayed one-two right back to the Juventus man inside the box. Somehow the keeper get a hand on the hard volley from 12 yards and deflects it wide.

Disallowed goal by Nigeria! Emenike pokes home a low delivery from the left side from close range, but was clearly offside.

Didn't look good at first, but Onazi returns for the Super Eagles while Benzema finds space in the left side and squares the ball to Olivier Giroud at the edge of the box. The Arsenal striker tries to aim for the top-left corner, but his effort is well high and wide.

Meanwhile Lazio's Ogenyi Onazi is down at the edge of Nigeria's penalty area and it doesn't look like he will be able to continue. He is stretchered away and we are not exactly sure what happened to him.

Although France has already shown what they are capable of offensively in the first minutes of the game, Nigeria seems to have settled into their defense now and close down midfield.

Victor Moses tries to track down a long ball on the left wing, but breaks up his run as he realizes that he can't get to it.

It's a very open start from both sides actually and that's a welcomed sign after most teams went with careful and defensive approaches in knockout stage.

Nigeria gets in opposing territory for the first time and wins a corner, but it comes to nothing.

Mathieu Debuchy is trying to accelerate on the right side in an first attempt to threaten the penalty area, but is physically cut off by Ahmed Musa.

We're underway in Brasília!

American referee Mark Geiger will lead the teams onto the pitch in a few moments. By the way: If both Nigeria and Algeria pull off upset wins, we would be witnessing history as Africa has never had two teams in the quarter finals.

The Super Eagles have some injury woes of their own in Michel Babatunde. The midfielder sustained an arm injury against Argentina and might be done for the tournament. There were doubts over Victor Moses as well, but the Chelsea man is ready to go and will work the left wing. Stephen Keshi knows his side has to improve today, but is confident that his young team will grow with the challenge and learn quickly.

Didier Deschamps chose to rest some players in the last meaningless group match against Ecuador and returns to his best starting lineup today. Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho starts off the bench recovering from an injury and Laurent Koscielny takes over as centre back. Also Paul Pogba remains in the lineup ahead of Moussa Sissoko in midfield. Nigeria will have to find ways to slow down the high-flying French offense that scored eight goals in the two group games that mattered.

After star Frank Ribery was ruled out for the World Cup, few believed that the Équipe Tricolore would be able to make a splash, but they grew as a team, cruised through the groups stage and Didier Deschamps' troop is no longer flying under the radar. Life as a favorite can be difficult though. The pressure is rising and you only have to point to Brazil's or the Netherlands' performance in the knockout stage to know it's hard to shake off that burden.