Football. ua presents the announcement of the 2018 World Cup match between Croatia and Nigeria.

National teams of Croatia and Nigeria will start their way at the World Cup in 2018 in a confrontation. Even more important will be this day for Nigerian striker Odion Igalo, who will celebrate his birthday.

Lester's midfielder Wilfried Ndi has resumed training after a hamstring injury and will be able to enter the field, but Leon Balogun continues to be in doubt for this match.

The Croatian national team is on the opposite side in the strongest part, none of the players has health problems.

The favorite of the match is Croatia. Nigeria in this group, which also serves Argentines and Icelanders, has the lowest FIFA rating.

Approximate compositions:.

Croatia: Subasic - Vrsalco, Lovren, Vida, Pivaric - Rakitic, Brozovich - Kramaric, Modric, Perisic - Manjukic Nigeria: Uzoho - Shehu, Troost-Ekong, Omeruo, Idowu - Ndidi, Mikel - Moses, Etobe, Iwobi - Igalo Interesting facts :.

- At the previous world championship, the Croats for the first time defeated the African national team (Cameroon, 4-0).

- In the last six matches against the Europeans at the world championships, Nigerians have only once defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina (1H, 4P).

- Croatia lost all three previous first matches at mundiale.

- Nigeria has the youngest team at the 2018 World Cup. The average age is 25 years and 336 days (at the time of the opening match).

The trainers say:.

Zlatko Dalich (Croatia): For me, this match is very important, because this is my debut at the World Cup. We have a good team, we are fully prepared. The last two weeks we worked on our tactics. I know the strong qualities of my team and we will try to play first number. We will try to control the ball. Creativity is our strength.

Gernot Rohr (Nigeria): We are very happy to play at the World Championships. Very much forward to the first match. The main goal is not the first match, but to quit the group. We are not favorites, Croatia looks preferable. They are above us in the FIFA rankings. But Nigeria has huge ambitions and we really want to win to leave the group. Croatia will be supported more, but we have nothing to lose. Forecast 1: 0 Schedule of World Cup 2018 Tournament tables World Cup 2018.