SportsGernot Rohr: We Won’t Underrate Lesotho

Gernot Rohr: We Won’t Underrate Lesotho

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BEVERLY HILLS, March 30, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Super Eagles have late on Monday concluded their final training session ahead of the last fixture of the group stages qualifying series for the 2022 TOTAL African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament against the Crocodiles of Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State.

As leaders of Group L, Nigeria has already qualified for the biennial competition, but the fixture has to be completed against the Crocodiles, whose inability to secure a win in any of their five previous matches of the qualifying series was tantamount to their remaining rooted at the bottom of the group and therefore failing to qualify.

The first leg of this tie, played in the Setsoto Stadium, Maseru in Lesotho, ended in Nigeria’s favour as braces from Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen were added to an Alex Iwobi equaliser to give the Super Eagles a commanding 4-2 victory to take home, and a consolation for Chidozie Awaziem, who scored a last-minute own goal.

Glo

The coach of the Super Eagles team, speaking after the end of the training session under the floodlights of the Lagos stadium, was upbeat about his team and the chance to play in Nigeria’s commercial hub, though he did not have a full squad because of a stomach bug affecting one player and the situation around Iwobi’s COVID-19 positive result.

“The training was okay,” the German began, “Unfortunately, one player, that is Joe Aribo, has stomach problems, so we are not sure if we’d make him play tomorrow. And, we are also waiting for the COVID test for Alex Iwobi.”

THEWILL recalls that Iwobi was originally in the starting line-up for the successful tie against the Squirrels of Benin but he had to be replaced at the last minute, when the news of his positive result broke, just before the team headed to the stadium. However, his positive result was viewed with suspicion by the Nigerian team who sought a second medical confirmation on their own as validation.

Rohr said: “So, Alex Iwobi, if he’s negative, he can play, if not, we will play again this Henry [Onyekuru] on the left side, like we did the other day.”

Confirming the presence of a socially-distanced crowd for the match at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Tuesday, Rohr expressed the appreciation of the team for that gesture: “We are happy to have the people of Lagos for the match, I think there will be 7,000 fans, and the players will give the best, will give a big pleasure to everybody by playing a good football.

“Last training session was okay and I hope that tomorrow, we will finish well these qualifiers now. Since June 2017, we didn’t lose any qualifier game, so we want to finish well with a good match and if possible with a good victory. But we never underrate any opponent.

“We know that Lesotho had very good defence. They made some 0-0 in this competition. And they don’t have anything to lose. So, the match will not be easy. But, we are ready for the good fight and good football match.”

About the possibility of changing the squad to create the opportunity for fringe players to be fielded, Rohr said: “We’ll change a little bit but I want to bring the best team. We are already preparing now for the World Cup qualifiers. They will start in June and [by] end of May, we’d be here again to prepare the match against Liberia first and then we go to Central Africa [Republic].”

Nigeria is in Group C in the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying groupings under the Confederation of African Football (CAF) zone. The teams against whom the Super Eagles will clash for a berth in Qatar within that group include Cape Verde, Liberia and the Central African Republic as scheduled at the draw ceremony held at the Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, Egypt on Monday, January 20, 2020.

The coach said: “So, already it’s a preparation. We don’t have so many games and I cannot give the chance to play to everybody. Some of our players are still missing. Our wingers Simon Moses, Kalu and perhaps Iwobi again, we will see.”

The Super Eagles match against the Crocodiles will kickoff at 5pm local time.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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