A-79th-minute Paul Pogba strike and an own goal in added time by Captain Joseph Yobo in Brasilia on Monday sent the Super Eagles crashing out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in the Round of 16 stage of the tournament.

The 2-0 defeat means Nigeria once again failed to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in five attempts, having reached the second round on two previous occasions — 1994 and 1998.

But the African champions would have themselves to blame as they were in control for most parts of the game but failed to make possession count.

France coach Didier Deschamps made six changes to the side that played Ecuador while Stephen Keshi brought on winger Victor Moses for the injured Michael Babatunde in his preferred 4-4-2 formation that had Osaze Odemwingie and Emmanuel Emenike paired in attack.

Nigeria had the better possession in the early stages but couldn’t make it count. In the 18th minute, Emenike slotted the ball past Hugo Lloris off an Ahmed Musa cross but replays showed he was rightly ruled offside.

Three minutes later, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama pulled off what could easily be the save of the tournament, when he parried Pogba’s rasping drive inside the box.

France also had a chance to open the scoring but Mathieu Debuchy shot wide. But it was Nigeria that looked more like scoring just before the break when Emenike’s shot from over 25 yards was parried away onto Moses’ path but the Liverpool man failed to make a decent first touch.

Nigeria started brightly in the second half with Moses’ cross cleared for a corner by Laurent Koscielny and there were anxious moments in the French box in the 52nd minute involving Moses, Odemwingie and Emenike but the Fenerbahce striker was ruled offside.

Odemwingie forced a save from Lloris from the edge of the box in the 63rd minute but it was evident the Eagles’ midfield broke down when Blaise Matuidi’s violent tackle on Ogenyi Onazi, sent the Lazio player packing.

The French were denied the lead in the 66th minute as left-back Juwon Oshaniwa cleared acrobatically with Pogba lurking. Three minutes later, Moses saved Nigeria’s blushes, when he cleared off the line with Enyeama clearly beaten.

Enyeama pulled off a fantastic save in the 75th minute but the French continued to pile pressure. Johan Cabaye hit the post in the 76th minute while Enyeama was on hand again, pulling off a one-handed save from Karim Benzema’s dangerous header, two minutes later.

But it was just a matter of seconds before the Europeans broke the deadlock.

Enyeama managed to get a hand to the lively Mathieu Valbuena’s corner in the 79th minute but Pogba headed home to open the scoring.

The French put the game beyond the Nigerians when Yobo and Enyeama went for a cross inside the box but Yobo, who was marking his 100th appearance for Nigeria in the game, bundled the ball home under pressure from Antoine Griezmann to dash Nigerian hopes once more.

Keshi blamed the referee for the defeat.

Keshi said Mark Geiger of the United States was bias with his officiating.

He said, “This is the first time I have complained about a referee in my career but I just cannot help it. Referees are human and there can be some human errors in a game but when these errors happen in high numbers, then they can no longer be termed as being innocent errors.

“This referee was clearly biased against us; his actions defined the result of the game. What was the reason given for disallowing our goal? And somehow no replay was ever shown of that goal and so people could not take a second look and no explanation was given.”

(PUNCH)