Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has defended his decison to call Leicester City forward Ahmed Musa, who isn’t getting games at the club.
Musa’s invitation has divided opinion but the coach said his inclusion is justified as his experience is vital to the team, and also said the 24 year old has been getting games for the U23s of Leicester City, which has helped him stay fit.
“His attitude is very positive in the team. His World Cup experience is needed. He is a player who can have a very positive influence on his partners on the field of play. And that is why he is with us and I am happy to have him with us.” Rohr said.
” For your information, Ahmed Musa is playing with the second team [of Leicester] regularly and he is playing very well. Not in the third team but the second one. He played also in the Cup game and his influence in the team is good and positive,” The Franco-German coach concluded.
On his decison to exclude on loan Chelsea defender Kenneth Omeruo from his team, the coach said Omeruo has not been active at club level unlike the duo of Leon Balogun, William Troost-Ekong and Chidozie Awaziem who are all ahead of him in the pecking order.
“Omeruo? He doesn’t play. He didn’t play at all in the club. You must take players who play in the club regularly,” Rohr explained.
“He played with the third team of Chelsea, he didn’t play the pre season with them. He didn’t play in the friendlies. I think he played with the U23 team only and now he has gone back to Turkey.
“We have Balogun, we have Ekong, we have very good defenders now. We have Chidozie who play for Nantes, a first French division team. We need cohesion and continuation of such with the team.
“Kenneth is not eliminated totally but we only hope he can be playing regularly and then have the chance to come back.
“It’s better to have the same list we had against Cameroon because of the spirit of unity in that game and we need such in this game too.”
Maxwell Pius
