Idris Adesina
Nigeria captain Mikel Obi has stepped up preparations for the team’s second Group D match at the 2018 World Cup in Russia against Iceland on Friday.
The 31-year-old was widely criticised for putting up a below-par performance in the team’s 2-0 loss to Croatia in their opening match on Saturday.
However, after apologising to Eagles fans for the defeat to Croatia, the team returned to training on Monday ahead of Friday’s match, which holds at the Volgograd Arena in Volgograd.
In a video posted by Kwese ESPN on Monday, Mikel arrived at the team’s training ground in Essentuki 10 minutes ahead of the other members of the team.
The China-based midfielder was seen doing some personal trainings to correct some of the mistakes made in the Croatia match.
In the short video, Mikel was seen practicing set-pieces with none of his teammates in sight while only a few members of the team’s technical crew were also around.
The video showed the Nigeria captain exuding the body language of one determined to make amendsafter Saturday’s opening day loss to Croatia,. At Monday’s training session in Essentuki, Mikel was first out of the dressing room and spent nearly 10 minutes out on his own on the pitch kicking one of the team’s numerous footballs and using one of the goals for target practice.
He was eventually joined by the rest of the squad and the coaches, and they trained for another hour. The Super Eagles play their second game of the World Cup against Iceland on June 22 in Volgograd.
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