A former coach for the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Bonfere Jo, who took Nigeria to the gold medal in the Atlana 96 Olympics has chimed in on what he thinks is the best way for the Nigerian team to win their first game at the Russia 2018 World Cup.
The Eagles take on Croatia in their first group game and will also have to contend with Argentina and Iceland.
The Eagles have lost their last 2 friendlies against England and Czech Republic 2-1 and 1-0 respectively and it is hoped that the Nigerian team can get back to winning ways by the time they face a Croatian team boasting of the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic.
Bonfere Jo who is quite familiar with the style of play from Nigeria has advised head coach Gernor Rohr to pack the midfield and use at least 5 players in that position to stand a chance to beat the Croats.
He said ” Croatia have very good midfielders. There is Luka Modric and Rakitic. These are World class players playing in the best clubs in Europe. That is why l expect the coach to play with five midfielders. It is our first game of the tournament and the most important,” he revealed.
While Jo believes that the group Nigeria finds herself is tough, Argentina’s match will be the easiest in his opinion. He also backed the Nigerian team to overpower Iceland who are playing in their first World Cup tournament.
He added “Iceland is a different team but I believe Nigeria can beat them. It could be an easy game for Argentina that is why Nigeria need to have two good results against Croatia and Iceland,”
The Dutch tactician also played down the fears from the friendly matches England and Czech which the Eagles lost.
”There is nothing wrong when you lose your friendly matches because they help the team to correct their mistakes,” said Bonfere