The role Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho will play for Nigeria against Egypt in their AFCON 2021 opener is proving hard to figure out for the technical crew of the Super Eagles.
Iheanacho has so far been the most impressive forward in front of goal for the team in training but the technical crew don’t see him as an out and out striker as he can’t be said to be suitable to the role of playing as lone striker. Something which their planned formation of 4-2-3-1 requires.
In the practice game against Coton Sport, the coaches played him as a part of a thee man midfield alongside the duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Joe Aribo. He didn’t quite look at home even though his role was more advanced as he was behind the main striker in Taiwo Awoniyi.
The coaches are not thinking of playing a two man attack which is the surest way to accommodate and get the best out of the lethal finisher but if push comes to shove they might consider going that route.
Another idea that has been mooted is to have Iheanacho play behind Ahmed Musa, who will be required to use his pace and experience in making runs behind to good effect and can also be effective when the team want to press.
Later today they will agree on how to approach the game tomorrow and top of their agenda will be a suitable role for Iheanacho who has so far shown that he deserve to start against Egypt.
