Croatia cruise
Nail Nigeria after Modric’s midfield mastery
Kaliningrad, June 17: A Luka Modric penalty and an own goal from Oghenekaro Etebo gave former semifinalists Croatia an easy 2-0 win over Nigeria in their World Cup Group ‘D’ opener on Saturday.
In Russia’s sleepy European exclave of Kaliningrad — perhaps best known for its nuclear missile sites — the much-hyped youngsters of Nigeria struggled to ignite against Croatia’s midfield technicians.
With rivals Argentina and Iceland only managing a 1-1 draw earlier Saturday in Saransk, both sides had a chance to take control of Group ‘D’.
Nigeria, knowing they were always likely to struggle for possession against a central one-two of Modric and Ivan Rakitic, were content to sit back and allow Croatia to come to them.
But they were rigid and well-organised, and largely restricted Modric’s distribution to the flanks, where Croatia’s final ball was poor.
After 10 minutes, Juventus target man Mario Mandzukic teed up Ivan Perisic at the edge of the area only for the Inter Milan forward to blaze over.
Croatia, semi-finalists at France ’98, have struggled to live up to the lofty expectations borne of an embarrassment of midfield riches, and meekly lost their World Cup opener 3-1 to hosts Brazil four years ago.
There is a sense of now-ornever for the Balkans nation at this tournament and Modric said his side would lift their game when they meet Lionel Messi’s Argentina in their next match. “It’s going to be a very difficult match. They have huge amounts of quality, but this win will really boost our confidence and we are going to up our game,” he said.
Nigeria have brought the competition’s youngest squad to Russia and at times the experience gap showed.
Coach Gernot Rohr kept faith in 19-year-old keeper Francis Uzoho but the Deportivo stopper’s first real action was picking the ball out of the net. Just after the half-hour mark, Mandzukic, industrious in his hold-up play, chested a Andrej Kramaric cross back to Ante Rebic, whose fizzing shot was blocked. The resulting corner saw Rebic return the favour with a near-post flick on met by a diving Mandzukic. Etebo was wrong-footed and bundled into his own net. Nigeria responded well, with Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi’s shot from a cleared free kick blocked on 45 minutes and his Premier League colleague Victor Moses shooting wide from 30 yards on the stroke of half time. The Super Eagles had the best of the start of the second period, forcing Croatia to bat away three corners in succession, before Moses again snatched a shot wide of Danjiel Subasic’s left upright.
But just as Nigeria showed some signs of life, William Ekong held down Mandzukic from a cross in the area and referee Sandro did not hesitate to point to the spot.
“We scored at the perfect moment. After that it was easier for us to play our game. After the first goal we started creating chances,” Modric said after the match.
Nigeria coach felt his team also deserved a penalty. “There were also so many fouls in the other box, they could have also given a penalty for us,” Rohr said.
“A win is a win is a win. Corners and penalties are part and parcel of football. What matters is you score,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said.
“There was some luck there, but we earned our luck. We were disciplined and we deserved the win. We fought for this,” he added.
“We are disappointed but we must recognise Croatia were better tonight and my young players made some mistakes. We have the youngest team in this World Cup. Let them learn from this match, from this defeat,” Rohr said.
Nigeria’s average age heading into Russia was a little over 25 years old and at times the experience gap showed. “We didn’t concede a goal from open play, only from set pieces so this is not a question of tactics,” Rohr said, adding, “sometimes we were a little bit naive on set pieces but we will work on it.” —