Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr has stated that his team still has their destiny in their hands as there is still hope of them qualifying for the round of 16 despite losing to Croatia in their Group D opening game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Saturday. The Super Eagles lost 2-0 to Croatia following an own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo and a second-half Luka Modric penalty.
“We now have to get four points if we want to qualify,” Rohr said in his post-match press conference. “We are only one point behind the second-placed teams (Argentina and Iceland) Nothing is lost, everything is in our hands so we will be positive that we can do it.
Rohr expressed satisfaction with the organisation of the Super Eagles play despite the defeat, promising that they will work on their approach to set plays.
“We are satisfied with the organisation of the team defensively but we didn’t have so many opportunities to score. We conceded only two goals from set pieces,” he explained. “This is not a question of tactics or system. Our system was okay. We played with four defenders because there were three Croatian strikers who are very strong. I was satisfied with the organisation of the team but what we missed in the game is being professional from set pieces. Each game is different. We know we can play with three centre backs but it was not a good day to do that.”
“We can do better than what we did against Croatia,” Rohr added.