Rohr predicts difficult game against Cape Verde as 10 Nigeria stars out of tie

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has expressed concerns over his depleted squad ahead of their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Cape Verde.

The Eagles began their campaign for World Cup ticket with a 2-0 victory over Liberia last Friday in Lagos and are billed to play Cape Verde in the second round on Tuesday (today).

10 players in the Rohr’s team that executed the Liberia game have not travelled with the rest of the team to Cape Verde due to some COVID-19 rules.

Among the 10 are seven UK-based players who could not go because of UK government’s rule that individuals who travel to “red zones” — which Cape Verde falls into — must quarantine for 10 days upon return.

Serie A defender, Ola Aina, also did not travel with the squad to Mindelo, and returned to Italy instead. Tyrone Ebuehi and Samuel Kalu have also been forced out after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19.

Rohr will be fielding the players left in their unusual position as most players will be making a rare start, but the coach believes his side can score and win.

Read Also: Rohr invites 30 Super Eagles stars for W’Cup qualifiers against Liberia, Cape Verde

“They like to play quickly forward, they have very good strikers, they have these wonderful players Mendes and Tavares, who played in France also, so we know them. They have very good offensive players,” said Rohr

“They are playing very often with three in the back, we know that they like to come back to be sure that they don’t concede, but we have our tactics to score a goal and to win the match.

“That is what we want to do, we know that it is not easy especially with this handicap of 10 players missing and two days less of recovery, but it will be a challenge.

“We have to show fighting spirit with good technical football like we always do,” he added

Meanwhile, Air Peace chairman, Allen Onyema, has promised the team N20m if they defeat Cape Verde in today’s fixture.

The kick-off time for the Super Eagles clash against Cape Verde is 5:00p.m.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now