Nigeria will certainly be pleased with FIFA’s decision to appoint American-born Matthew Conger as the referee for the Super Eagles clash against Iceland on Friday, June 22.
The Kiwi whistleblower will be assisted by compatriot Simon Lount (Assistant Referee 1) and Tonga’s Tevita Makasini (Assistant Referee 2) while Ricardo Montero (Costa Rica) and Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan) are the fourth
and fifth officials respectively. The Nigeria national teams across all levels have never lost a game in which Matthew Conger has officiated dating back to 2015.
At the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup, Conger was the fourth official when the Flying Eagles thrashed Korea DPR 4-0 and he was the man in the middle in the Dream Team VI’s 1-0 win vs Sweden at the 2016 Olympic Games.
In the two matches, yellow cards were issued to Aminu Umar and Zaharaddeen Bello while the oppo- nents received three cautions in total.
John Obi Mikel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi have all played in games that the New Zealander was named as one of the officials.
The 39-year-old Conger will not have problems communicating with the Nigerian and Iceland players, as he is very fluent in English.
