Gernot Rohr Confirms Mikel's Injury

Despite the hurt, the German tactician feels the Super Eagles captain can play a part against La Albiceleste on Tuesday evening.

Gernot Rohr remains positive John Obi Mikel will play against Argentina despite confirming the Tianjin Teda midfielder suffered fractured metacarpal against Iceland.
Mikel was hurt in the 2-0 victory at Volgograd Arena and played the latter part of the make or drop clash in pains.
the German refused to rule the 31-year-old out of the crunch tie against Jorge Sampaoli’s men while disclosing that his team looks set.

"Unfortunately there is one injury. We have the captain who has a fracture of the metacarpal, but I think he can play with a cast,” said Rohr.
“So, the medical team is working on him.
“We are now preparing for our next game against Argentina. We’re focused on this game and we’ll do all to prepare this team in the best way possible.”
The three-time African kings landed in St. Petersburg on Sunday evening, and they will train on Monday at the Saint Petersburg Stadium.
Nigeria are on the periphery of elimination after two games and must avoid defeat against La Albiceleste to progress to the Round of 16.

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Mikel Backs Young Uzoho To Have 'Amazing' World Cup

The 19-year-old is relied upon to remain between the sticks when the Super Eagles commence their World Cup battle at the Kaliningrad Stadium today.

Nigeria skipper John Obi Mikel has upheld young goalkeeper Francis Uzoho to have an extraordinary involvement with the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

Uzoho who made his international debut against Argentina in November 2017, has uprooted Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Daniel Akpeyi to wind up the Super Eagles' first-choice goalkeeper.

The younsgter showed up with Deportivo La Coruna in LaLiga yet highlighted significantly in the third level of the Spanish League with their B side, making 26 appearances..

In spite of question concerning the 19-year-old's understanding, Mikel is satisfied with the shot stopper's calmness and said that the team will keep on lending some assistance to put him off pressure during games.

"He's an exceptionally youthful goalkeeper. I contemplate him is that he's constantly extremely quiet. It's beneficial for us, it's beneficial for him. He knows how to manage pressure, he has a great deal of obligation, yet we attempt to help him as much as we can," Mikel told the media.

"I endeavor to talk with him during the game, however it's vital for us to give him a chance to carry out his work, he knows precisely what he's doing. I attempt to talk with him to keep him quiet. We trust he will have an awesome competition."

In front of Saturday's World Cup opener against Croatia, Gernot Rohr's men recorded three defeats and a win in their last five warm - up  games.

Be that as it may, the Tianjin Teda star stays hopeful of their odds to daze the world in Russia.

"Preparation with the friendlies turned out poorly . We needed to try new things, new players, new formations ," he proceeded.

"We recognize what we did during the friendlies, yet right now is an ideal opportunity for the competition. We need to center, we need to switch back in transit we played going to the World cup.

"On the off chance that we can play the way we know, control the control, be forceful, we have an extraordinary shot. The youthful players need to demonstrate the world what they can do."

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