Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr has served up a strong indication that four of his rookies in the Nigerian national team may start Tuesday’s follow-up international friendly against Cameroon; as he threw superlatives on four of his new players, megasportsarena.com reports.
Rohr appeared satisfied with his rookies, as he mentioned in particular the efforts of FC Lorient of France attacker, Terem Moffi, Sparta Prague of Czech Republic striker, Peter Olayinka, Galatasaray of Turkey defender, Valentine Ozornwafor and CD Feirense of Portugal midfielder, Marcus Abraham.
Although only three of the lads got off the bench to show their quality during Friday’s first game, which ended in a 1-0 loss for the Eagles against their eternal rivals, Rohr stressed that they all put in commendable performances on the night in Vienna, Austria.
Cameroon grabbed the winner with a 36th minute strike from Fulham of England midfielder, Andre Zambo Anguissa, making it their first win against Nigeria in regulation time since 1989, but Rohr insists there is nothing to be ashamed of, as friendlies are meant to make tests and check new players.
The Franco-German gaffer went on to mention all four rookies individually in his post-match comments, with words of commendation for each, thereby suggesting that he might be confident enough to thrust them in from the start on Tuesday.
That would be a huge leap forward for the trio, who many analysts agree gave a good account of themselves in their first international match for the Eagles, as Moffi replaced Paul Onuachu after 65 minutes, Marcus went on for Alex Iwobi in the 87th and Ozornwafor went on in the 89th to replace injured vice-captain, William Troost-Ekong.
While critics are wont to declare that the three players are not first team materials, as they started from the bench on Friday, Rohr has a different verdict, even as he went on to give a passmark to his entire team and reckoned that they will do better against the same foe on Tuesday.
Rohr told the Super Eagles Media Team: “These test matches are made for that, to give the chance to other players. Of course, I’d prefer to play with my best team and to prepare them for the World Cup in the same conditions but it was not possible because too many players could not come.
“So, it was an opportunity to see Moffi, he did well. Olayinka also had a good end of the match and we saw Marcus, he was good also with Valentine who came in for Troost-Ekong in the end so it’s interesting.
“We will see again in the next game if they can have a place in our 23-man list. Now there will be competition, and that is good, we give them a chance and we are all the time happy to have them play.”
