John Mikel Obi, Super Eagles captain is confident that the Nigerian team will prove critics wrong at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The Eagles have been written off by many following their unimpressive performances in their pre-World Cup friendlies, where they have lost to Serbia, England and Czech Republic.

Drawn in Group D alongside Argentina, Croatia and Iceland, the Nigerians are the lowest ranked team by FIFA in the pool.

Argentina are ranked fifth, while Croatia who the Super Eagles will face in their opening 2018 FIFA World Cup game this Saturday, are 20th in the ranking.

World Cup debutants Iceland are 22nd while Nigeria are 48th.

“We like where we’ve been placed. We don’t want to be one of the favourites,” Mikel told Al Jazeera in a video interview.

“I think this will give the team enough motivation to prove critics wrong that we can actually do better that they actually feel.”

Mikel is poised to attend his second World Cup. He has featured 83 times for the Super Eagles, scoring six goals.