Super Eagles Coach Rohr Has His Say On Croatia's Biggest Weapon

Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr believes Croatia have one of the strongest midfield in the world and stressed that the Super Eagles must be very organized when both nations face off at the 2018 World Cup.

Real Madrid pair Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić, Barcelona's Ivan Rakitić, Inter Milan's Ivan Perišić and Napoli's Marko Rog are some of the key midfielders expected to be included by manager Zlatko Dalić in his squad list for the World Cup.

As for Nigeria, Rohr is likely to look to Obi Mikel, Oghenekaro Etebo, Wilfred Ndidi and Eddy Onazi to break up Croatia's attack on June 16.

''We have to be sure that our solidity in defense, our organization is strong enough to resist Croatia who has one of the best midfield going to the World Cup, so we must progress, we are at the beginning of something beautiful,'' Rohr told Omasports.

''I hope it will be a beautiful adventure for us at the world cup. But you see even if we won against Poland, I think we were lucky, we don’t believe we are the favourite in the group.

''We are number four in the group, When you see the other teams, even Iceland is better ranked than us, So let’s stay humble and work.''

Croatia scored 19 goals in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with players classed as midfielders contributing to six of those goals, while John Obi Mikel was the only Nigerian midfielder that registered his name on the score-sheet during the qualifiers.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel