Uzoho not wary of Modric, Mandžukić, Rakitic – Mikel

Super Eagles captain and midfielder, Mikel Obi has thrown his weight behind team goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho to keep the Croatia star players such as Luka Modric, Rakitic and Mario Mandžukić quite in today’s World Cup Group D opening fixture.

The young Nigerian goalkeeper will be the youngest goalkeeper at the World Cup if selected today by Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr to man the goalpost.

Having made his debut against Argentina in an international friendly game last year and kept most of Nigeria’s warm-up matches, the former Chelsea star believed that Uzoho has the capability to withstand any pressure.

“He’s a very young goalkeeper. I think the good thing about him is that he’s always very calm. It’s good for us, it’s good for him. He knows how to deal with pressure, he has a lot of responsibility, but we try to help him as much as we can,” Mikel told the media.

“I try to talk to him during the game, but it’s important for us to let him do his job, he knows exactly what he’s doing. I try to talk to him to keep him calm. We hope he will have a great tournament.”