Super Eagles head coach,
Gernot Rohr, is very hopeful that current Nigeria’s most popular man, Ahmed Musa, can replicate his two-goal wonder against a very desperate Argentina and an even more dangerous Messi.
“I am happy with the nice goals Ahmed Musa scored against Iceland. The goals were well constructed by the team. It was a wonderful counter-attack and his goals were scored with wonderful techniques. I hope he scores again. He worked very hard to get back to the shape he is now. Last year he had a difficult situation at Leicester City and I told him to go to a club where he would play more matches. And he returned to Russia rejoining CSKA Moscow.
“And I visited him to see him in training. He was fighting to get back to his old form. So he deserves to come back to the team. He has big competition in his position in the team and I hope his confidence will make him do better against Argentina… I cannot give you our plan on how we will play tomorrow but you can count on the Super Eagles to come out fighting against Argentina.
“They have to win and a kind of draw can be good for us. We also want to win. It will be spectacular game tomorrow. We have two organizations. We can play 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 we can also play 3-5-2 like we did against them like we did against Argentina in November last year. I hope that the beginning of the game will be much better than the last two games. I hope that my players will be ready from the start of the game.”
— Rohr
Super Eagles skipper, Mikel Obi, who picked up an arm injury was also cleared to play the match with a cast on his hand.
“The captain has a fracture on his metatarsal on his left hand. He has to play with a cast. He visited the doctor in Saint Petersburg.”
Rohr also went further to explain that the Super Eagles will remain unfazed against a very dangerous Messi who will try his very best to push his team into the second rounds of the tournament.
“We will put into our game lots of organization and discipline against him. We saw that against Iceland and Croatia. He did well but was unlucky. I think he is in good shape and we must be very wary of him… I think the youthfulness [Super Eagles] can be a disadvantage sometimes. We saw it in the last two games. Stupid penalties, some fouls as well because they are so young.
“The experience of Argentina can be their positive point as well. Each player wants to be in the second round. What is more important on the day is the concentration and fitness of the players with good organizations also, players that can make the difference individually and collectively.“We are improving and I hope there will not be any mistakes from my young players against Argentina tomorrow.”
— Rohr
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This article was first published on 26th June 2018
achem
Achem Samuel is a writer and a musician, he is passionate about God and also an ardent fan of tech, sports and music.
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