Mikel confident Super Eagles will survive World Cup group

Captain John Mikel Obi says the Super Eagles are motivated by the difficulty level of their World Cup group, and have given themselves the target of surviving it like they did in the qualifiers.

Nigeria scaled through the qualifying series by seeing off African giants, Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia – sealing qualification for the mundial with a game to spare.

Drawn in World Cup Group D alongside Croatia, Iceland and Argentina, the Super Eagles skipper is confident his self and teammates can repeat the honourable feat in Russia.

Gernot Rohr’s men left their Essentuki camp Thursday and touched down Kaliningrad, where they are billed to face Croatia this weekend as they kick off their campaign.

Speaking to World media after the team arrived the match venue late Thursday, Mikel said, “It is the dream of every footballer to play at the FIFA World Cup and we have to live that dream on Saturday.

Read Also: #WorldCup: Nigeria will play as a team to beat Croatia – Moses

“Croatia is a very good team with a lot of top class players and we have to be at our very best against them.

“This group is probably the toughest in the tournament; everyone is calling it the ‘group of death’. That is the motivation.

“We have given ourselves the target of coming out of this group just like we did in the African qualifying group that everyone gave the same tag.

“We worked hard at both the camp in Austria and since we got to the team base camp in Essentuki. Our football federation also did well to get us to prepare in very good places devoid of distraction and now, it is our responsibility to do the nation proud by starting well against Croatia.”

The game against Croatia will kick off by 8:00p.m (Nigerian time) at the Kaliningrad Stadium.

Nigeria will also play Iceland on next week Friday, June 22, before facing two-time champions Argentina on Tuesday, June 26.

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