Who will win this group?

It's hard to say. It depends on who Rohr would play on the left wing. It was Ahmed Musa before the lack of playing time. Iwobi was also played there. Moses Simon started or was subbed on in most qualification games. Probably the first position Nigeria could use an upgrade and why people were counting on Henry Onyekuru returning from injury.

This injury would open a door for Kelechi Nwakali. But wil Rohr use it?

 

You are underestimating his impact and role.

 

I am very worried for our prospects though. We have a lot of players coming off injuries or nursing slight injuries, I just pray nothing happens tomorrow against DR Congo. If I were coach I will not play any of our starters. It seems many of the players on the outside looking in will play. But these are our injury concerns.

Moses Simon (bench option winger) - out of worldcup

Leon Balogun (starting CB) - did not play last few matches of season due to injury, reportedly not his usual self in training, has a history of injuries

Troost Ekong (starting CB) - small knock, is ruled out of tomorrows friendly

Tyrone Ebuehi (possible starting RB) - missed last few games of the season, still has small knock apparently

Joel Obi (possible starting MF) - missed last few games of the season, reportedly not doing well in camp

Wilfried Ndidi (starting DM) - Missed last few games of season, has not yet returned to full regular training

Chidozie Awaziem (third choice CB) - small knock ruled out of tomorrow's friendly.


I pray for the health of our guys, but it isn't looking very good to be honest.

 

He's not bad, but honestly Nigeria can do much better. Rohr has been quite lazy in terms of scouting to be honest.

If at the end of this season you were to offer me the loss of Moses Simon to guarantee everyone else does not get injured, I would take it in a heartbeat.

Plenty of players can play the same role that Simon has. Rohr just hasn't given anyone else a chance as he is stubbornly loyal to certain players. Now in camp we don't have any direct replacement for Simon, because Rohr refused to pick any competition for the wide attackers. He was set on which players to take to Russia.

Bad move IMO.

 

I agree Simon is probably the smallest loss of all first team players. But he started 6 out of 8 world cup qualifiers, missing out one game due to injury and until proven otherwise he is a first team player, not a sub.

Why not take Samuel Kalu, Bonaventure, or even Onyekuru?

 

It's presented in a propaganda style, and I couldn't quite follow its narrative coherently, so I cannot accept this as proof of anything. Its premise may be valid but this video does not make anything clear. Also "Croats heart of a Slav, soul of an Iranian" is more for a poetic work than for a serious research.

Modric had a good, not great, match but other players and events will take the spotlight on yesterday's game. Liverpool were better, including in midfield, until Salah went out.

 

But I thought all Croatians were tall

 

The great ones are short like Modric Maradona.

 

Eh Argentina also has 5 or 6 players with minor injuries. It's normal at this time of the year.

 

Moses Simon IMO despite his inconsistent form is Nigeria's best pure winger. He isn't a wide forward like most of our wingers and IMO is our best crosser. He's a loss, not a monumental loss though. This will probably open up space for a full back or one of our alternate striker choices.

 

lol Croatia is located on the méditerranéen seaside and shares adriatic with Italia mainly after living under both roman empire austrian-hungarian empire and ottoman empire. There were Also the illyrians so unless you are blind get a clue )

If we have such amount of High level athlètes and artists and models with a small population and low économy there are reasons that make our people rare.

Even in vietnam you will find some tall men doesn't make it a trend though...

Croatian and serbians are among the tallest and there are models with Croatian or serbian decent in several Parts of thé world this is just a fact. ^^

 

Goran Ivanisevic Djokovic Toni Kukoc Divac Ivano Balic Nikola Karabatic Drazen Petrovic Zlatan Boban etc Will disagree

 

He has his qualities, which seem to be underestimated by many Super Eagles fans, but he is fully replaceable. I agree he is a much better crosser than Victor Moses or Ahmed Musa.

 

I'd replace Van Dijk with Kostas Manolas, although Manolas has had a few horror moments in the UCL as well.

 

You are taking my post way too seriously. It was in jest. There are scholarly articles on the subject of the origin of the Croatian people, but such scholarship is neither all that dispositive nor really relevant here. I first heard the theory linking Croatians to the Iranians from a Croatian coach, Branko Ivancovic, who coaches in Iran. Looked into the issue in wiki and that seems to be one of the main hypothesis on the subject. But I didn't live back then and have no real idea on the subject, except wherever they originated from, the Croatians today basically have as much in common with modern day Iranians as people from any other Balkan country. To say none would be an exaggeration but to say much would be equally misplaced as well.

 

I think van dijk won't end in the final 11 anyway it will be kimmich varane ramos marcelo

 

I was a bit surprised but then not that surprised when i heard about the links with iranian roots persia etc..but i see it only as a part of the equation not a major role.
You just have to see where we are located to realize the proximity with various different influences.
I had 2 iranian girls, 1 in france and 1 in uk and we got along very well mentally, iranian women are very beautiful, so are our women. Our people are taller than most people in europe and well built, taller than italians spanish etc and in same time we got the mediterranean-middle east influence that slavic countries in general above don't have. And we got the mediterranean western influence that countries further east don't have either.
We are in the south in the middle between west east and middle east.
So we got a bit of both of them in us.
When you take that in consideration and when you also take in count that Croatia got some of the most beautiful coasts in europe it is not surprising that some iranians wanted to settle there.
Everybody around wanted the adriatic pearl. And still today.

 

We are venturing way too off topic, but let me make the following observation based on the little I have learned about this particular subject buttressed by what I know about Iranian history:

1- To the extent the Croatians have any common linkage to Iranians, the linkage is the same as for the Serbs. The main difference only the fact that the name for Croatia can specifically be traced to old Iranian names while the names for the Serbs have evolved in a different path.
https://inserbia.info/today/2013/08/croatian-scientists-proved-that-croats-are-descendants-of-serbs/

2- The tall stature of the Croatians is actually consistent with the stature of the Iranian tribes (Scythians) which are linked to the Croatians (and Serbs). The Scythians, indeed, while an "Iranian tribe" linguistically and culturally, had physical characteristics that made them stand apart from other Iranian tribes, although -- in general -- tall stature was more predominant among various specifically Iranian tribes than the non-Iranian tribes in the region. But the "blue eyes" and blond hair was certainly not a characteristic of even the ancient Persians even if it was prevalent among the Scythians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians

 

Yeah although I think Chiellini might have a chance as well, instead of Varane. As a Juventus fan I hope Chiellini gets in there, although he was at fault for Ronaldo's second goal vs us but that goal was world class.

 

let's go with Argentina and Nigeria to get out of this group...why not?

 

When it comes to colors you will find either dark or brown or blond in our countries. Only redheads are way more rare...my dad was tall with dark hair green eyes and white skin my mom got normal height dark hair dark eyes and dark skin while i am tall with dark hair dark eyes and dark skin. In my family from both sides there are individuals with either dark features or with either blue eyes and green eyes.
Being from there i can sense some physical difference between the different people from former yugoslavia though, difficult to explain by words but i can sense sometimes that someone looks more serb or someone more croat etc the gipsy bohemian influence is also way more present in serbia than in croatia.

Then i still think each population moving there and empire let their print in nowadays people origins as we are talking about only few millions individuals in places that have lived centuries of wars and migrations...
Our people use to explore away and mix a lot with people from different origins also.

Anyway coming back on the topic only 17 days before the event starts. Hope our players won't be injured in the next training sessions and friendlies.

 

I think Varane got the edge cause he won it all and played a great match in final while Juve reached only the 1/4. When it comes to the voted team they tend to pick the players that won it or were close to.

 

And there is everything in a nutshell for Croatia.

Reminds me of Uruguay in the 90's Very good individuals but just could not get it together as a team.

Can they do it in 2018? It is put up or shut up time.