Mikel Obi: We are motivated

Nigerian Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi granted an interview with Al Jazeera and made it known that Super Eagles will prove the critics wrong in Russia.

Nigeria is drawn in Group D which is termed “Group of Death” alongside favourite foes Argentina, Iceland and Croatia.

Super Eagles have failed to convince its supporters in their preparatory friendly matches in which they drew against DR Congo, lost to both England and Czech Republic. This recent form has affected Nigeria in the latest FIFA ranking and shows that they might not have a very good world cup judging from their group opponents ranking and form heading into the showpiece.

Among all the teams in the group Nigeria is the lowest ranked team according to the recent FIFA ranking released ahead of the mundial. Argentina is ranked fifth, Croatia who the Super Eagles will face first on Saturday are ranked 20th, and the newcomers Iceland are ranked 22nd while the Super Eagles are ranked 48th on the list.

“We like where we’ve been placed. We don’t want to be one of the favourites,” Mikel told Al Jazeera in an interview followed by stakegains. “I think this will give the team enough motivation to prove critics wrong that we can actually do better that they actually feel.” He concluded

Mikel has been capped 83 times by Nigeria scoring six goals and will feature in his second world cup.