Nigeria captain, John Obi Mikel has reacted to the news that Croatia wants to leave their big names out of their last group match against Iceland on Tuesday.
Mikel has said Croatia should be professional and not rest players against Iceland. The between game Croatia and Iceland could yet decide the Super Eagles’ World Cup fate.
Two goals from Ahmed Musa ensured Nigeria remained in the hunt for a place in the knockout stages as they saw off Iceland in Volgograd.
And though a defeat to Argentina would confirm their elimination, a draw would mean they require Croatia to do them a favour against Iceland.
Croatia have already booked their place in the latter stages of the competition, and as such, manager Zlatko Dalic has vowed to leave out some of his star players.
“I don’t think it’s the best thing to do,” he told Goal. This is a massive tournament –you can ’t rest people and give others a chance of qualification.
“They should be professional and play their best team. This is such a big stage that you can’t rest players just to help other teams to qualify.”
Despite having Lionel Messi in their number, Jorge Sampaoli’s side picked up just one point from their two games thus far, including an embarrassing 3 – 0 defeat to Croatia on Thursday.
However, Mikel is aware that recording the victory his side require will be no easy task.
“I think they have played well. It’s going to be a tough and difficult game for us,” he added.
The game between Nigeria and Argentina and Iceland’s match with Croatia would take place simultaneously 7pm on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you!
THANKS.