Former England youth international Ola Aina made his international bow for Nigeria in their 1-0 win over Zambia which helped them qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Aina was convinced by coach Gernot Rohr to switch allegiance to Nigeria, and the coach handed him his debut by throwing him on for Elderson Echiejile who went out injured with a little over ten minutes left to play in the game.
The on loan Chelsea defender acquitted himself nicely, clearly proving why he has been a revelation for his loan side Hull City where his performances have earned him nominations in the Championship team of the week.
Highly rated by the technical crew of Chelsea, he could have even started the game according to Rohr as there was huge doubt over the fitness of Aina in the build up to the game.
” Ola Aina did very well in training for us, Elderson ( Echiejile) was injured earlier in the week, so we even thought of starting Ola Aina”, Rohr said.
“We have confidence in this young player (Aina), he came in and it’s not easy to come in like we saw in the case of Mikel Agu after few minutes of warming up and he did very well.
“He’s quick, he can go forward, he is good with his head and also good in tackles.. He is a very good player and for the future it is very interesting for us to have players who are young and have a lot of qualities like Aina.”, Rohr said
Shedrack Obi
