Nigeria’s Super Eagles have arrived in the southern Russia town of Volgograd ahead of Friday’s win-or-bust FIFA World Cup Group D encounter against Iceland.
The Nigeria national team, who made it to the Round of 16 at the last World Cup in Brazil, flew from their Essentuki base on Thursday morning and officials confirm that they are now settled at the Hampton-by-Hilton Volgograd Hotel.
The focus has been on the encounter with the Euro 2016 quarter-finalists since the loss to Croatia in Kaliningrad on Saturday, as victory against the feisty Scandinavians will renew hope for a place in the knockout rounds while defeat would mean early and unflattering elimination from the quadrennial showpiece.
Friday’s make-or-mar match is expected to bring the best out of this new generation, with victory guaranteed to be a statement of strong mentality and capacity for turning around adversity, which would do career progression and equity at national team and club levels no harm.
Thenff.com reported that all players in camp are fully fit, meaning Coach Rohr is presented with an opportunity to pick among all 23 players, and to cobble together the combination and formation that he believes will best guarantee victory.
Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad and which is 940 kilometers south of Moscow, extends alongside the Volga River and has a population of 1 million people.
The unforgettable ‘Battle of Stalingrad’ was a turning point during the Second World War, with about 2 million persons said to have been killed and German expansionist mission decisively aborted.
Victory on Friday would be a turning point in Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign.
END
Be the first to comment