Nigeria's World Cup 'underdogs' need to play as a team, captain says

UYO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's "underdog" football squad need to play together and not as individuals, captain John Mikel Obi said, with the team acknowledging they face a tough group stage at the World Cup in Russia next month.





"We have to make sure we play together as a team which is the most important thing; no individual players," Obi told a media conference on Friday.

"No need to think that we are favourites, we're still underdogs, so we have to go as underdogs in this World Cup and hopefully we can get good results," he said.

Nigeria, known as the Super Eagles, are ranked 47th by FIFA and face Argentina, ranked fifth, Croatia (18) and Iceland (22) in Group D.

"We have a very tough group," said Nigeria's coach, Gernot Rohr. "It will be a surprise to come out of this group for a lot of people but perhaps not for me because I believe in my team and I think that my team, even though it's young, has enough experience."

Obi added: "We want to do well, we want to do better than ever, we want to go one step further."













(Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Clare Fallon)


Share
1 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Nigeria's World Cup 'underdogs' need to play as a team, captain says | SBS News