Sports
Eagles will miss Ighalo, Ndidi, Uzoho against Bafana -Rohr
Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has admitted that his team will miss the services of striker, Odion Ighalo, midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and goalkeeper Francis Uzoho in their match against South Africa this weekend.
Ighalo, who has been in fine form for Nigeria, will miss the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against the Bafana Bafana due to injury.
Ndidi was shown a second yellow card during the team’s last game against Libya on matchday while first-choice goalie Uzoho sustained an injury at his club that will keep him off the sport for four weeks.
“Three injured players and one suspended, its difficult to play without them,” Rohr told journalists in Asaba.
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“We are missing our right-back, Shehu [Abdullahi]. Ndidi is missing through suspension and injuries to our goalkeeper (Uzoho) and our goalscorer (Ighalo).
“So it’s a lot, but we will try to go to South Africa with some new players.”
The Super Eagles are atop Group E with 9 points from four matches, and are just a point from sealing their place in the 2019 tournament billed to hols in Cameroon.
They had kicked off their qualifying campaign with a 2-0 defeat to South Africa last year, before securing three straight wins – including a home and away victories over Libya.
“We lost to South Africa a long time ago – over a year ago,” Rohr continued. “But my young team now have experience of the World Cup and I believe they are able to play a good match even if we are missing four key players especially the goalkeeper and the goalscorer.”
The squad is expected to fly out to Johannesburg today (Thursday) aboard a charter flight, ahead of the clash against the South Africans on Saturday.
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