The manner in which Nigeria will approach Saturday’s game against Croatia at the Russia 2018 World Cup has been suggested by coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr.
Rohr had his first press conference at the World Cup ahead of Nigeria’s opening group D game and he gave a hint on how they will tackle the Croatians who are expected to line up global midfield super stars in Luka Modric, Mateo Kovavic and Ivan Rakitic in midfield.
Croatia are also expected to field Mario Mandzukic in attack alongside Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric or Nikola Kalinic but despite the star studded nature of the Croatian squad, Rohr is optimistic that Nigeria will give a good account of themselves in the game.
“We admire this team, but, we do not plan to watch them when we play against them, we hope to fight. They are all wonderful players playing in biggest teams in Europe”, Rohr said.
“On paper with their names, the Croats are much better than us, but, sometimes on the pitch, it could be different. We don’t have their big stars, but, we try to play collectively with our young team”.
