John Obi Mikel insists Nigeria must ‘go back to the drawing board’ following their 2-0 World Cup defeat to Croatia, but still harbours hopes the Super Eagles can progress from Group D.
An own-goal from Oghenekaro Etebo and a penalty from Luka Modric secured the points for Croatia from a turgid contest in Kaliningrad on Saturday, without Nigeria ever looking likely of mounting a comeback.
And former Chelsea midfielder Mikel, who captains Gernot Rohr’s side, acknowledged Nigeria must improve ahead of their clash with Iceland on Friday.
“We have to play better. I think we can play better, we can do better,” Mikel told reporters.
“It’s difficult to say I think. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do better, together as a team.
“It’s not easy playing against these fantastic players, European players, they can hurt you in any given time. We know that, but we have to do better.”