The inclusion of red hot Crotone forward Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo in Nigeria’s 30 man provisional list for the World Cup has led to talks about his chances of forcing his way into the final 23 man squad when it is named in June.
Simy is currently on a scoring run of six goals in his last six Serie A games for struggling Crotone, where he now has seven goals to his name in as many as over 20 games this season in Italy.
His fine form forced coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr to notice him and the coach subsequently sent his scouts to take a close look at the over six feet striker in their game against Sassuolo two weeks ago according to an exclusive report on Naijasportsgrill.com.
Respected Nigerian journalist Clement Nwankpa quoted an unnamed source in his report for the fast rising website, “Rohr likes Simy. He has sent scouts to watch him a couple of times this season. But Rohr’s mind is made up on the players he is taking to the World Cup and Simy isn’t there”, our source said.
“Rohr appreciates the physical presence that Simy brings but he wants to stick with the players that saw him through the qualifiers. He wants players he knows better and can vouch for. These few weeks before the World Cup isn’t enough for him to have a closer look at Simy. It will take something extraordinary to happen in this World Cup camping for Simy to make the final list.
“You know we have AFCON qualifiers soon after the World Cup. Simy will play a big part in those matches and the AFCON proper”, he added.
Ade Emmanuel
