Ahead of Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against the Central African Republic, Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr complained about the late arrival of some players.
“Everybody believes that it will be an easy victory, it’s not an easy match.
“When players are arriving late like this, it is not helping us when we say we have to be serious,” Rohr told a press conference.
The player in question is goalkeeper Maduka Okoye.
However, the German cannot seriously be banking on Okoye against the Wild Beasts. The 21-year-old is even yet to keep a clean sheet for Sparta Rotterdam this season.
This is a game where the Super Eagles have to dominate the visitors from start to finish on their own turf. They will win it from the front.
Another excuse Rohr might give is the absence of the England-based trio of Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo and Alex Iwobi.
However, in Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho and Simon Moses, Rohr possesses genuine firepower in his squad against a side ranked 124th by FIFA.
A lot of people have questioned Rohr’s tactical nous for a long time. Even when he has had the full compliment of players available, he has not already made the best choices, especially when it comes to in-game management.
Against CAR today, all he needs to do, is pick a strong XI from players available to him and win all three points.
Anything else will be failure and questions should be asked. At the end of the double-header, one expects Nigeria to be sitting pretty on top of Group C with 12 points.
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