Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has admitted he has respect for Croatia but insists his young side will not be overrun by the Europeans when both teams meet in their World Cup Group D clash on Saturday at the Kaliningrad Stadium.
The Croats have a number of talented individuals in their team with the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic, Andrej Kramaric and Mario Mandzukic expected to lead the assault against the Eagles.
Nigeria on the other hand will be parading a number a youngsters who will be playing at the World Cup for the first time.
“We admire this team (Croatia) but we do not plan to watch them when we play against them, we hope to fight. They are all wonderful players, playing in biggest teams in Europe. On paper, with their names, they are much better than us,” Rohr stated while addressing reporters on Wednesday at his team’s training base in Essentuki.
“But sometimes on the pitch, it could be different. We don’t have their big stars, but we try to play collectively with our young team,” Rohr was quoted by Completesportsnigeria.com..
The German coach also provided updates on right-back Tyronne Ebuehi, who suffered a nose bleed in Tuesday’s training, and also passed a clean bill of health on the other players.
“He’s fit and there are no injury problems in the team,” Rohr stated.
