Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has reeled out a chain of factors and steps that he would follow in the process of dropping two of the 25 players he currently has in camp, in order to arrive at his final squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Feelers indicate that Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have given Rohr a deadline of Friday night to submit his list, so that it can be forwarded to Confederation of African Football (CAF) this weekend, but the tactician wants to wait until after Saturday’s friendly against Zimbabwe.
Rohr further revealed that the departments from which he will drop the two players are attack and defence, as he has a larger number of invitees from those two areas of the team currently sweating out in Asaba.
The Franco-German tactician posited that the process of sifting among the players to arrive at the final 23 will involve rigorous training and physical drills, as he intends to take only the fittest among the squad.
He, however, admitted that Saturday’s game against Zimbabwe will play a key part in helping him arrive at a final decision on the matter, as that would accord him the chance to see the players in a match situation.
“I have to access all the players in training and, after giving them the chance to play against Zimbabwe, before picking my final 23.
“The Nations Cup would be tough and only the strongest and fittest team have the chance to win the championship.
“We have so many options in attack because the players deserve to be in the team. Now we have to pick the best from them and one has to go.
“In defence too. The number is okay but also we have to concentrate there when picking the team.
“To achieve this, the players need to be exposed in rigorous training to keep them fit for the challenges ahead.
“We want to pick only the best, but we promise that every player would be given equal chance to prove himself.
“The job is to pick the best players to represent Nigeria. We’ll be very happy to go with everybody but sadly we can’t.
“So, two players will leave before we depart for the tournament in Egypt,” Rohr concluded.
