Leon Balogun To Undergo Late Fitness Test On Saturday Ahead Of Croatia Match

Brighton & Hove new signing Leon Balogun will undergo a late fitness test to determine his availability for Saturday evening's World Cup opener against Croatia.

The central defender did not take part in the team's final workout in Essentuki on Thursday morning before the trip to Kaliningrad, but manager Gernot Rohr has refused to rule him out of the game, saying he'll wait until the last minute before making a decision.

''We have 23 players who are now very fit," Rohr said at the pre-match press conference.

"When we started our preparations three weeks ago against Congo in Nigeria, it was hard work to do, we made some tests, we saw that we had to work very hard, some of our players didn't play so much, some of them didn't have rest in winter time because they are playing in England.

''So it was not easy to find a good programme for everybody. But our physical coaches had a good programme, everybody is fit now.''

Rohr added : ''We had a little injury, this is Leon Balogun. We will try tonight in the training session to see if he is able to play or not.

''He's 50-50 for the moment, we will decide perhaps only tomorrow because we have to wait, the training and his reaction for tomorrow.''

The Super Eagles will watch the opening match in Group D between Argentina and Iceland and Rohr disclosed that he will send a scout to also monitor proceedings at Otkritie Arena in Moscow.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : fifa.com