It’s no longer news that the Super Eagles team list for the Poland and Serbia friendly is out. The list didn’t pull many surprises as the regular members maintained their position.
The inclusion of Egypt based Junior Ajayi was welcomed by healthy reactions from fans especially on social media, as well as the recall of long-term Super Eagles absentee, Joel Obi who have impressed so far at the Italian club, Torino.
Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr [Credit: Getty Images]
1, Joel Obi only Eagle worthy of a recall so far?
The question may scarcely hold water considering it’s just a friendly. Nevertheless, these friendlies are the best opportunities coaches have to experiment and look at options to add to the team.
Joel has put up an impressive performance and deserves a call-up, Rohr may not want to invite every Tom, dick and harry that may throw the current team shape off balance.
However, the Super Eagles need a formidable team depth and how experienced the players are, the better it can be.
2, A chance for the CHAN stars
Following a decent outing at the last CHAN tournament in Morocco, it was no surprise to see the name of Gabriel Okechukwu turn up on the list.
This is not his first call-up to the national team, in fact, late Stephen Keshi handed the Akwa United forward his debut Super Eagles call up a few years ago. Stephen Eze also had his name on the list.
Eze who left the shores of the country after the CHAN tournament was a rock in the CHAN Eagles defense that reached the finals last month. Enyimba goalie, Ikechukwu Ezenwa will also use the friendlies to further cement his place as the possible first choice shot-stopper of the Super Eagles.
3, More bonding process for the regular faces
Yes, we have witnessed since Gernot Rohr took over how much he has used the same set of players to execute games.
It’s now easy to call Nigeria’s first eleven as the usual Rohr’s specialists are always on the list. Such development is very healthy for a team in the long run as it helps the team to bond when they play together more often.
Nigeria national team, The Super Eagles. [brila.net]
Nigeria Olympic bronze medalist, Junior Ajayi, got his debut Super Eagles call up and all eyes will be on the Ahly man if he gets game time during the friendlies.
He comes into the squad on the back of an impressive run with the Egyptian top side. Fans hope he repays Rohr’s faith by putting up a nice performance in two weeks time.
5, Will Rohr experiment with a 3-5-2 formation…or?
We at brila.net do not have an answer to that, but as we said earlier in the post, friendlies are opportunities for coaches to experiment and look at options available to bring into the team.
Over time we have seen Rohr use 4-2-3-1 tactics. A slight change in tactics won’t be bad and it can only best be tested in friendlies like Poland and Serbia.
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