Croatian national team coach Zlatko Dalic says his troops must work their socks off to beat Nigeria in the opening Group D match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Dalic who was named coach of Croatia following the dismissal of Ante Cacic before their qualifier against Ukraine in October has refused to write off Nigeria who are ranked 33 positions below his team.

“Nigeria is not a typical African national team, they have Mikel as captain and a powerful young player. They are fast, agile, it will not be easy to beat them,” Dalic told Croatian news outlet,Istinom do gola.

Dalic is confident progress to the last 16 and boost their chances of making a deep run at the tournament.

“I already said, it’s not easy, but it could be harder. However, I say that the priority is to go to the second round, the knockout competition. If we do not get it, it would be a failure, “added the 51-year-old coach.

Croatia qualified for the World Cup finals after seeing off favorites Greece.This was third time that they advanced through playoffs after making it to the 1998 and 2014 tournaments.