Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr confessed on Thursday that his
biggest problem is which players to pick for his starting XI, ahead of their
African Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa on Saturday in Uyo. The German has an embarrassment of riches at
his disposal, all the way from defense through midfield to forward, and
competition for places is so fierce during training sessions that Rohr is
continually forced to put the brakes on the players. "There is a big
motivation. I had to sometimes tell them to go slowly because there was a
little bit too much aggressiveness because everybody wants to play.
"Now, it is very, very difficult for me to name the
starting team because we have so many good and young players," Rohr told
the media on Thursday.
The coach is expected to stick, for the most part, with the
team which beat Togo 3-0 in a recent friendly in Paris, making just two
changes.
Goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, who limped out of training on
Wednesday, has been declared fit and will take Ikechukwu Ezenwa's place in
goal.
And in midfield, returning stand-in captain Ogenyi Onazi
will step up while Mikel Agu drops out.
The team will line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with the
rejuvenated Ahmed Musa getting a chance to run at newly-appointed Bafana
captain Thulani Hlatshwayo, whom he tormented during their last meeting in
2015, when the game ended 1-1.
No comments:
Post a Comment