Coach Rohr attributes Nigeria's 0-2 loss to Croatia to too many mistakes by his boys

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has attributed Nigeria's 0-2 loss to Croatia in the opening World Cup match yesterday in Kaliningrad to too many mistakes committed by his wards.

In a lacklustre game, both Croatia and Nigeria showed no drive or enthusiasm but despite both goalkeepers being on holiday throughout the 90 minutes, Croatia still went home with all three points.  Nigeria gifted the Croatians an own goal in the 32nd minute when Oghene Etebo put the ball past Francis Uzoho in goal and in the 781st minute, William Ekong needlessly gave away a penalty to allow Luca Modric to score from the spot.

Football watchers worldwide had been expecting the Eagles to dazzle with their usual flair, flamboyance, enthusiasm and African panache but were shocked at how flat yesterday's performance was. For the first time ever, A Nigerian side took to the world stage and showed no hunger and desire, failing to register any meaningful attempt on goal throughout the 90 minutes.

Defending this woeful and shambolic performance at the post-match press conference afterwards, Coach Rohr said admitted his players were aware they made a lot of mistakes that cost them in the match. He added that the entire team were disappointed with the result, pointing out that the squad need to show professionalism when taking set pieces.

Mr Rohr said: "We know we made some mistakes, too many important mistakes and it is clear that we need to get better in order to move on. Our organisation was good, that is clear just as the tactics were not wrong but we need to be more professional in the way we take the set pieces and we need to be better before our next game."

He also said he was satisfied with the performance of Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi despite not delivering the goods for Nigeria. On the night, Mikel looked lethargic, lifeless and disinterested in the game and his failure to show any leadership on the pitch appeared to transmit to the rest of the team.

Coach Rohr added: "Mikel, since I took over has always been playing the way we deployed him to play and this has yielded results for us. He couldn't have done better than he did today because of the quality of those he was playing against.

"He had Ivan Rakitic of Barcelona and Luka Modric of Real Madrid playing against him and they are of good quality and playing for clubs bigger than that of Mikel who plays in China. So, he really did well."

On Arsenal's Alex Iwobi who was substituted in the second half, Coach Rohr said the player was taken out because he ran out of gas after running himself into the ground. Under Rohr's 4-3-3 formation, the two wide forwards have to track back and help the two fullbacks.

"Iwobi deserved his starting place based on his performances in the last few days, he had big work to do with the full back and this took too much out of him. However, he did well and I don't think he shouldn't have started the game," Rohr added.

On the way forward, Coach Rohr assured the fans that he and the team will go back to the drawing board and his boys will have a better performance on June, 22 against Iceland. Nigeria will them play Argentina in her final group game on June 28.