Croatia 2-0 Nigeria World Cup 2018, Group D: match report

Croatia 2-0 Nigeria: match report

Nigeria have plenty of questions to answer after Saturday night's game against Croatia, which saw the latter waltz to a 2-0 victory despite rarely impressing themselves. The problem wasn't that Nigeria were rejected by Croatia, it was the fact that they couldn't get any chances away to begin with.

An own-goal in the first half from a corner didn't help matters. Mario Mandzukic flicked the header toward the back post and Oghenekaro Etebo turned it into his own net. That was after somewhat of a decent start by the Super Eagles.

After that, it was like walking through treacle for the Nigerians as they tried to get forward with no luck. The trouble it was taking them to get the ball anywhere near the box wasn't worth it and they ended up with two shots on target.

By the time Luka Modric converted a penalty after Mario Mandzukic was manhandled in the penalty area, the game was up for Nigeria and they had nary a chance of getting the double they needed to salvage a point.

They play a wounded and cornered Argentina side on Tuesday with both sides needing a win or facing extinction from the competition after two games. Croatia play a defensive Iceland side next, who could cause them problems, if they can't fix their own lethargy problems.

Croatia vs Nigeria: as it happened

Croatia vs Nigeria: live stream online | match preview

On paper at least this game promises to be a cracker. Both sides should come out positively looking for the opening goal, and then aiming to build on that rather than sitting back on holding. This would have been the case had they played before the other Group D match, but it is even more likely to be true given that Argentina and Iceland finished all square earlier in the day. Whether it turns out that way on the grass we will have to wait and see...but let's hope so!

Croatia

With a mix of experience and youthful exuberance in the squad, confidence is high for Croatia going into the tournament, despite having to come through arguably the toughest group. Manager Zlatko Dalic spoke ahead of their match against the Africans and said that they expect to do well:

"We have a very good set of players who are the driving forces of big clubs and young players, it's a good mixture," he expained. "It is right that expectations are high and we expect from ourselves more than anybody else.

"I hope we will prove all those flattering epithets right and that this generation will get a result with some luck along the way. We are full of self-belief and ready to show some good football."

He also went on to talk about their attacking flair, confirming that today's opponents would not change their attitude:

"We have our own style, we play a football of possession, we are offensive and we won't give that up to adapt to Nigeria," Dalic said.

"I believe in our players and I don't want to limit their creativity. It is our biggest advantage."

Nigeria

The Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel was in high spirits ahead of their first challenge in this 2018 Fifa tournament and said the squad had been preparing well with Croatia in mind. 

"There have not been any issues in the camp. It's been a quiet camp, very disciplined and there is a real unity in the team," Obi Mikel said at the pre-match news conference.

"It's been that way since day one. We feel ready, we have prepared really well and it's a game we want to win to start the tournament well."

This is the sixth time that Nigeria have made it to the finals and manager Gernot Rohr made it clear that they have to put behind them disappointing results in their warm-up friendlies over the last weeks, losing to both England and the Czech Republic and drawing at home with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We were trying out different formations but we are going to switch back to the way we played over the last year coming to this World Cup. If we do exactly what we know we can do, to control the game and be aggressive, we can do well," said Rohr.

"Our players have a lot to prove and this is a very good stage for them but it's also important to keep their emotions in check," he added.