Let me welcome you to my column, this is going to be the first of my countdown to the FIFA World Cup.

The world Cup is around the corner as participating teams are gearing up by putting finishing touches to ensure their countries excel at the mundial.

Interestingly, coaches of various teams are rolling out the list of their squads, and Nigeria’s Super Eagles are not left of this.

Meanwhile, Croatia, one of Nigeria’s opponents at Russia 2018 open their World Cup campaign from 16th June with the first group match against the Super Eagles.

I’m keen about the fixtures below as this piece is about Nigeria and the games against Croatia; Argentina and Iceland.

1. Croatia Vs Nigeria-16 June 2018,
2. Argentina vs Croatia–21 June 2018,
3. Iceland vs Croatia–26 June 2018.

As at now, there are few reactions about the players heading for the World Cup.

For me, I pray the players selected by Nigeria perfectly fit Coach Rohr’s requirement.

That’s better said on paper but it is left for the players to make the difference by justifying being invited by the technical crew.

The World Cup is not a jamboree and the players invited should be motivated to represent this great country; Nigeria and those in diaspora well.

Despite the top quality of players in their team, I still believe Nigeria can tame and pull down the guys from Croatia.

A 4:2:3:1 formation in the first game can help the entire squad. And the Nigerian team must bear in mind that their first game is very important if they want to progress in the group.

So the coaches have a lot to work on. The selection of players is the coaching crew’s responsibility irrespective of the internal or external pressure.

Croatia qualified for the world cup 2018 after, they finished 2nd on the qualifying table behind Iceland.

They usually play 4-2-3-1 formation and we might see Real Madrid’s Kovacic starting in deeper midfield role along with Brozovic.

Croatia also boast of a very experienced defence with Srna, Vida, Corluka and Vrsaliko with Subasic to guide the post.

Croatia are setup not to get beaten and they rely on the pace of Perisic on the counter attacks.

Croatia are drawn in Group D of the World Cup, where they will face Argentina, Nigeria, and Iceland in their group games.

Croatia won’t be a stroll in the pack especially as they will open their World Cup campaign against Nigeria.

Hope you enjoyed this brief piece, well, there are more to come in the next article, stay here and watch out for more in my column.

And send your reaction to xmac4u@yahoo.com.