Rohr lines
up more tune games for Nigeria
What manner
of a goalkeeper is he? That is the question Deportivo La Coruna shot stopper
will answer today if he gets the opportunity to man the post against Arg
entina
in the international friendly scheduled to hold in Krasnodar, Russia.
Super Eagles
Coach, Gernot Rohr hinted yesterday that he would give the former Golden
Eaglets’ reserve goalkeeper the opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the
Russia 2018 World Cup squad today. However, there are those who believe that
Rohr may choose to play the main team that qualified Nigeria for the World Cup
instead of fielding some rookies due to the opponent’s pedigree.
Camp sources
said yesterday that Rohr has seen so many attributes in the 19-year-old Uzoho
and would want to see him in match situation against a strong opposition.
“Uzoho has
one thing working for him as soon as you see him. He is a big lad and Germans
like their goalkeepers big and that was the reason former Super Eagles coach
Berti Vogts preferred Austin Ejide to Vincent Enyeama a few years ago.
“Aside his
physical attribute, Uzoho is also very good at taking crosses, he commands his
area very well and with all due respect to the goalkeepers we have now, Uzoho
is the best in playing with his legs, something Rohr likes a lot,” one of the
camp sources told a local website.
Rohr
revealed that the game against Argentina would be the first in the series of
matches lined up for Nigeria’s preparation for the World Cup.
The coach is
working hard to ensure that Nigeria made good use of the six available FIFA
free windows for friendly games against some tough opposition.
“It is very
good we have two games to prepare our team between November and March but it is
not enough.
“We’ll like
two games in May, two games at the start of June. We could have six games
during the pre-World Cup preparation, with training sessions used as match
conditions,” he said.
The
Franco-German explained that the Eagles decided to play Argentina in in Russia
because they wanted to see the country before returning for the 2018 World Cup.
‘’Why do we
hold a friendly game here in Russia? It turned out that the last match against
Algeria in the qualifying tournament for the World Cup was held when we already
qualified,’’ he told Sport Express Russia.
‘’It turned
out that we were looking for who would play the second match. It was possible
to play in Russia against Argentina.
‘’It is
important for us to see how everything is arranged here before coming to Russia
in 2018.’’
Meanwhile,
Argentina warmed up for today’s match with Coach Jorge Sampaoli planning as
many as 11 changes to the squad that defeated Russia 1-0 in a friendly game on
Saturday.
Ole reported
that in yesterday’s training session, Sampaoli experimented with what will most
likely be the starting line up against Nigeria today.
According to
Ole, the only decision yet to be made by the coach is who will start on the left
between Angel Di Maria and Diego Perroti with goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin
likely to get his first start.
Juventus
forward Paulo Dyabala will start upfront alongside Dario Benedetto and Cristian
Pavon, who set up Sergio Kun Aguero for the winner against Russia will most
likely start.
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