AFCON qualifiers: Rohr admits selection headache

.Targets victory over Sierra Leone

By Akeem Lawal

SUPER Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has admitted that it will be difficult for him to select players for next month’s quickfire home-and-away AFCON qualifying fixture against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone.

 Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports that Rohr handed first caps to six players in the two international friendly games with Zaidu Sanusi, Frank Onyeka, Kevin Akpoguma and Samson Tijani featuring in Nigeria's 1-0 loss to Algeria on Friday, while Cyril Dessers and Chidera Ejuke were in action in a 1-1 draw against Tunisia on Tuesday.

 

The German tactician believes the new players justified their call-ups with their performances as he will be having a selection headache for the qualifiers.

 

While assessing the performance of the squad in the October international break, Rohr said he is happy to have the players in camp for 10 days, noting that the two friendlies will help the team return to winning ways ahead of the AFCON qualifier billed for between 9th and 17th November.

 

"We are happy to have had this opportunity to be camped in Austria for 10 days. It was a very good feeling to be together again after being away for 11 months, although we missed some key players.

 

“The two friendly games we played were very good competitive games. Algeria and Tunisia are very good teams. Indeed, the results could have been better. We could have picked a draw against Algeria and a win against Tunisia.

 

"We have some positives to pick out from the games because in spite of missing some key players we still competed well. Now it is going to be difficult for me to pick our list for the AFCON qualifiers next month because of the new boys who did well.

 

"I believe these very good friendly games will help us to return to winning ways when we play Sierra Leone next month (home and away). Good results next month may see us qualifying for the 2022 AFCON already."