The Croatia national team made a successful start to their World Cup yesterday, beating Nigeria 2-0. An own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, before Luka Modric put things out of reach from the penalty spot (71’).
Modric: “Nigeria put their quality on display”
“It was a hard game, but we expected that,” said Modric. “Nigeria really put their quality on full display. We wanted to start the tournament off with three points and we did that, which gives us a confidence boost.” Nigeria’s German coach Gernot Rohr was “not totally dissatisfied” after the game, noting that “only a few small things need to be improved upon. My team played really well given their relative lack of experience at this level.”
Croatia are back in action this Thursday (20:00 CEST), when they are set to play Argentina. Nigeria will then play the following day against Iceland (17:00 CEST).
The Croatia national team made a successful start to their World Cup yesterday, beating Nigeria 2-0. An own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, before Luka Modric put things out of reach from the penalty spot (71’).
Modric: “Nigeria put their quality on display”
“It was a hard game, but we expected that,” said Modric. “Nigeria really put their quality on full display. We wanted to start the tournament off with three points and we did that, which gives us a confidence boost.” Nigeria’s German coach Gernot Rohr was “not totally dissatisfied” after the game, noting that “only a few small things need to be improved upon. My team played really well given their relative lack of experience at this level.”
Croatia are back in action this Thursday (20:00 CEST), when they are set to play Argentina. Nigeria will then play the following day against Iceland (17:00 CEST).
