BEVERLY HILLS, March 22, (THEWILL) – German coach Gernot Rohr of Nigeria’s senior men’s national football team, the Super Eagles, has called up a pair of home-based players to bolster his squad for the forthcoming Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Cameroon 2021 qualifiers against the Republic of Benin and Lesotho. It was a move necessitated by the late withdrawal of some overseas players previously included in the initial squad sheet.
As reported by THEWILL, the 67-year-old had earlier put out a strong but slightly questionable cast of 23 players, with omissions from the first choice team that he shifted to the standby list that caused many to raise their eyebrows, especially as a clubless Ahmed Musa made it to the squad but the highest goal scorer in the Belgian League for Genk, Paul Onuachu, only made the standby.
In that initial squad, which included only a single home-based player, Enyimba International’s goalkeeper John Noble, another player in-form player, Henry Onyekuru, who was on loan for a third time at Turkish side Galatasaray from his parent Ligue 1 club Monaco, suffered the same fate as Onuachu.
However, fate intervened as invited team numbers became depleted with the spate of travel restrictions by some European clubs due to the on-going COVID-19 protocols, who took advantage of world football governing body’s decision to relax the rules mandating clubs to release players for international engagements, leaving it to individual clubs to decide which players travel and which do not.
In adjusting to the late withdrawals, especially from Ligue 1, Rohr replaced France-based duo of Bordeaux’s Samuel Kalu and Moses Simon of FC Nantes by moving standby players Onyekuru and Onuachu to the main squad sheet. The German also invited these home-based duo to the Nigerian camp for the qualifiers.
The two, who ply their trade in the Nigeria Professional League (NPFL) are Abia Warriors defender Adekunle Adeleke and Enyimba striker Anayo Iwuala. They are to slot into Rohr’s unit as like-for-like replacements for Spain based Kenneth Omeruo, defender for Leganes in the Segunda division, and Sadiq Umar, striker with UD Almeria, respectively.
The Super Eagles lead the standings of qualifiers from Group L with eight points, one point ahead of closest rivals Benin, whose Squirrels the Super Eagles will contend against at the Stade Charles de Gaulle in Porto Novo on Saturday, March 27, before wrapping up qualification proceedings three days later by hosting the Crocodiles of Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
That fixture will be the first official national football game in Lagos after a decade-long absence. The last time a competitive match of the senior men’s national team was hosted in Lagos was in January 2001 when the Super Eagles games a 1-nil victory over Zambia in the AFCON qualifying series of that year.
Nigeria is presenting a strong squad to demonstrate how important the pair of matches remaining are and their determination to leave nothing to chance. Rohr had this to say about that: “We want to finish our qualification on a positive note, and the two matches against Benin and Lesotho are very important.
“Of course, we know that Benin is difficult to beat after our last game in Uyo (Nigeria won 2-1) and we need at least a point against them to qualify for next year’s AFCON.”
He added, “Then, we are playing our final game in Lagos. We want to win in Lagos because it has been a long time since we last played there, and we want to conclude the qualifiers with a victory as well.
“These are not going to be easy matches because Lesotho drew with Benin, but we are going to give our best against these opponents.”
Rohr displayed an awareness of the furore his selection of team captain, the clubless Musa, without club football since last October when he left Saudi Arabian side Al Nasr. He explained it as a strategic decision and a mere morale booster for the three-time African champions and Group L leaders.
“Musa is our captain, and he is a part of the team though he won’t play because he has not been active, but we want to assist him to train and he will also help our team as we prepare for these two important matches,” Rohr explained.
This explanation is weak as it goes against his own criteria of only selecting players who are actively engaged with club football and is not sufficient rationale to relegate in-form and fiery hot choices like Onuachu and Onyekuru to the standby list, putting the hopes of qualification of a whole nation simply to satisfy the needs to assist a single player.
However, with the selections now in a more reasonable setting, it stands to reason that Rohr’s charges will give a solid account of themselves and easily prosecute the qualification matches accordingly.
Already, according to updates on the social media platform of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Super Eagles, some players have made it to camp and joined in some early training exercises to get in shape.
Players like Chidozie Awaziem of FC Boavista, Adeleke from Abia Warriors, Oluwasemilogo Ajayi of West Bromwich Albion, Olaoluwa Aina of Fulham FC, William Ekong from Watford FC, Onyekuru and Oghenekaro Etebo from Galatasaray FC and Musa have arrived. The others will hopefully join them.
The full squad sheet
Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho (APOEL Nicosia, Cyprus); John Noble (Enyimba FC); Maduka Okoye (Sparta Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
Defenders: Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Boavista, Portugal); William Ekong (Watford FC, England); Olaoluwa Aina (Fulham FC, England); Jamilu Collins (SC Padeborn 07, Germany); Zaidu Sanusi (FC Porto, Portugal); Tyronne Ebuehi (FC Twente, The Netherlands); Adekunle Adeleke (Abia Warriors)
Midfielders: Oghenekaro Etebo (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City, England); Abdullahi Shehu (Omonia Nicosia, Cyprus); Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland); Oluwasemilogo Ajayi (West Bromwich Albion, England)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Unattached); Alex Iwobi (Everton FC, England); Samuel Chukwueze (Villarreal FC, Spain); Victor Osimhen (Napoli FC, Italy); Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England); Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray FC, Turkey); Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk, Belgium)
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
