Super Eagles of Nigeria were yesterday lined up in a 3-5-2 formation for the game against South Africa which ended 1-1 and coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr has explained the reason why they had to play that way.
The formation which was first revealed by Owngoalnigeria.com prior to the game shocked lot of fans of the team as the coach is known to favour a 4-2-3-1 formation as seen in previous AFCON 2019 Qualifiers.
During the post match conference, Rohr was asked the reason why he lined up his players that way particularly if it was due to the absence of some players like top striker Odion Ighalo, team captain John Obi Mikel and midfield enforcer Wilfred Ndidi.
Rohr said it was a system which worked for them at the World Cup and it is proper for them since they needed at least a draw from the game, he however hinted at that the fine form of Kenneth Omeruo at Spanish side Leganes, where he is on loan from Chelsea also played a part in his decision to play that way.
“We did it against Iceland at the World Cup and it was a very good game and when you go away, you want to win the game or at least get a draw, it’s good also some times to change and surprise the opponents”, Rohr said.
” We have three very good central defenders with Omeruo who is playing all the matches for his club in Spain. So I picked the players who are the fittest one and I try to use the system that will work. In Russia also we played with about four players running around and with the two full backs also joining the attack as we saw today. We believe it’s the best as showed by the result today.
