Preview: Leicester City trio could be in action as Nigeria face Croatia
Leicester City’s Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi could all be in action as Nigeria kick off their World Cup campaign against Croatia.
Venue: Kaliningrad Stadium
Kick-off: 8pm BST
Referee: S. Meira Ricci
Assistants: E. De Carvalho, M. van Gasse
Fourth official: A. Mateu Lahoz
Fifth official: Pao Cebrian
The Super Eagles’ amazing kit has already earned a giant’s share of plaudits, but the sartorial choice would be of little interest once they are up against the Blazers.
With midfield maestros as Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Ivan Perisic supplementing the potency of Mario Mandzukic and Andrej Kramaric up front, Croatia boast a wealth of talent that can be too tough to get the better of for any team that’s currently in Russia.
And that will make the job just that bit tougher for this spirited and confident looking Nigerian side. Despite possessing some fine talent in Alex Iwobi, John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and the Leicester City trio of Musa, Iheanacho and Ndidi, Gernot Rohr’s side would need their gameplan executed to perfection, for there’s little room for error against their European opponents.
Form
None of the two teams come on the back of a run that can be termed too encouraging – and this is true of Nigeria in particular, who have only won one of their last six games.
Croatia have been relatively better, winning three of their last six, but losing two and drawing one. This is World Cup football, though, so expect to see two very different teams.
One to watch (Nigeria)
Alex Iwobi is the one who Nigeria will look up to for that spark. We’ve seen him rapidly rise up the ranks at Arsenal over the last two seasons or so, and having matured a fair bit, this has to be the time when he steps up on the big occasion for his nation.
One to watch (Croatia)
Luka Modric has been famously running the show for Real Madrid for years, and he does that for his national team as well. Although deployed in a no.10 role, something that we’ve not seen too much of, you just know that he’d still impact the game, albeit in a different way.
Quotes
"“We are okay with the garb of the underdog. But the defeats have done something for us. We have our heads firmly on our shoulders and we are focused,” said Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr."
Rohr might have accepted the underdog tag, but Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic is in no mood to take them lightly, and he would therefore name his best side.
"“I will give the opportunity to the best, neither young nor old, the best. Senegal has shown us all we have to fix some things. There is no reason to fear,” he said."
Possible XI
Croatia: Danijel Subasic; Sime Vrsaljko, Domagoj Vida, Dejan Lovren, Ivan Strinic; Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic; Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric, Ante Rebic; Mario Mandzukic.
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