We can win the World Cup in Russia — Mikel

The skipper of the Super Eagles, John Mikel Obi has declared that the team can win the World Cup in Russia. Mikel, who spoke during a press conference in Essentuki before the Super Eagles departure for Kaliningrad where they will face Croatia on Saturday, warned that the Super Eagles should not be judged by their […]

The skipper of the Super Eagles, John Mikel Obi has declared that the team can win the World Cup in Russia.

Mikel, who spoke during a press conference in Essentuki before the Super Eagles departure for Kaliningrad where they will face Croatia on Saturday, warned that the Super Eagles should not be judged by their poor results in their pre-World Cup friendlies.

“It’s a good time to try all of that. We know how we play. We know what we can give. We just need to focus more on the tournament,” Mikel began.

“We want to be Nigeria, we want to play our way and obviously we want to do that on Saturday. Now is the business time and we have to switch."

“I think we want to start from the blast of the whistle. We want to go in for every tackle and win every balls and dictate and control the game."

“This is how we play. We don’t want to wait for the second half. This is something we have spoken about and we want to improve on it. We can do better from the first half of the game and we hope that we can start well in this tournament.”

The 31-year old had time for some wisecracks when asked which teams are the favourites for the World Cup.

“Nigeria of course are among the favourites,” Mikel laughed.

“We are underdogs and we believe that will motivate us to do well in Russia.

“All we need to do is to continue to be together in good or bad times. Football is not all about winning. Hopefully we can achieve something great in the tournament."