In what could be considered a case of mind games, Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has admitted that the Croatia team are better than Nigeria’s Super Eagles. Speaking during Wednesday morning’s press conference before training, the German tactian said, ”We admire this team. They are all wonderful players, playing in biggest teams in Europe. On paper with their names, Croatia are much better than us.”
The bulk of the Croatian team plies their trades in Europe’s top five leagues, whereas the Super Eagles have nine players in their ranks who represented top tier clubs in England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy in the season just past. Coach Rohr however noted that, “we do not plan to watch them when we play against them, we hope to fight. We don’t have their big stars, but we try to play collectively with our young team.”
The Super Eagles will fly out to Kaliningrad, three hours from their camp in Essentuki on Thursday afternoon, where they will face Croatia in their World Cup opener the next day.