EAGLES’ FATE STILL IN THEIR HANDS DESPITE CROATIA LOSS – GERNOT ROHR
Nigeria walk a tight rope to qualify from the group stages of the ongoing FIFA World cup after defeat to Croatia.
First, It was Etebo who deflected Juventus forward, Mario Mandzukic’s goal-mouth scramble from Real Madrid man, Luka Modric’s corner kick beyond the reach of goalkeeper Francis Uzoho for Croatia’s opening goal. And then, William Troost-Ekong wrestled down Mandzukic for the penalty converted by Modric.
Super Eagles Head Coach’ Rohr, aptly captured the situation Nigeria now finds herself following the one-all draw played earlier by favourites Argentina and Iceland.
“With Croatia now leading the group on three points and Argentina and Iceland on one point each, we now do not have the option but to win our next match against Iceland on Friday,” was how the Franco-German gaffer summed up the difficult task faced by Nigeria at the post-match conference after the clash here in Russia.
He expressed disappointment for the loss stressing that the eagles had hope to pick atleast a point before meeting Iceland.
“It is disappointing for us to lose the match. However, Croatia had a better team than us on the night. I must also admit that some of my players made silly mistakes. Both the first and second goals came through corner kicks. Yes, there were some calls that were questionable but we have to accept this defeat and move on.”
Rohr insisted that the hope of Nigeria qualifying from the group was not lost yet as two other teams in the group have just one point each.
“Our future in the competition is still in our hands. We can do it because we have the youngest team in the competition and have the energy to pursue the dream of making it out of the group stage even if it is a difficult one,”
“We can still qualify if we win our next match and get at least a draw in the last game against Argentina to end on four points.”
On the blunt Eagles attack that was completely blunt on the night, the coach said insisted: “Nobody will be happy when the attackers cannot put the ball behind the net. Alex Iwobi tried at the beginning but lacked the cutting edge. He played very well in the three weeks we were in camp before coming here”.
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