Super Eagles head Gernot Rohr has released his starting line-up for Tuesday’s (today) 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde, Completesports.com reports.
Rohr sticked with his number one and Sparta Rotterdam of Holland goalkeeper Maduka Okoye as the man between the sticks.
In defence, Shehu Abdullahi will operate from the right-back position, while Jamilu Collins kept his place as left-back.
Leganes defender Kenneth Omeruo and Chidozie Awaziem have been picked as the two centre-backs.
Read Also: Cape Verde Vs Nigeria: Awaziem, Omeruo, Ebuehi To Start; Bonnke To Anchor Midfield
Innocent Bonnke and Kingsley Michael will anchor the midfield and they will supported by captain of the team Ahmed Musa.
Victor Osimhen will lead the attack, with Moses Simon and Chidera Ejuke operating from the wings.
The match will kick off at 5pm Nigeria time.
FULL LINE-UP
Okoye
Shehu, Omeruo, Awaziem, Collins
Bonnke, Michael, Musa
Ejuke, Osimhen, Simon
55 Comments
Having Omeruo and Awaziem pairing at CB is a masterstroke given that they played together at Leganes at a point. Cohesion will not be much problem.
Having Musa behind the main striker is suspect as his strength of pace is being curtailed while I don’t see him as a great passer of the ball but let’s see how it goes.
Good luck Super Eagles!
Those clamoring for bonke and Kingsley,e don set!! Let’s see the kind of materials dey really are. Eagles material or ABA material.
Lol
GOOD LIST
A SITUATION LIKE THIS IS AN AVENUE FOR OTHER PLAYERS(e.g. Ejuke,Bonke,Moffi, Michael) TO PROVE THEIR METTLE.
GERNOT ROHR, PLEASE TRY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE DO UR FIVE-SUBSTITUTION.
NIGERIA IS WINNING 2 GOAL TO NOTHING
Five substitution?You mean to sub in our two reserve goalkeepers?Because we have just six outfield players in the reserves baring injuries the only three changes we may see this evening could be any two of Moffi,Onuachu,Onyekuru then as the case maybe one defender from the three available.
The situation we found ourselves in,I think this is the best we can field in a 4.3.3.formation.
Musa’s role requires guile pace and stamina.Musa I have seen of late is a bit a shadow of himself,but I expect everyone to double their efforts to manage this situation successfully.
Meanwhile,Kingsley Michael and Bonke are having their debuts in a tricky away game against a side that have proved to hold their own at home against the finest sides in the continent.Their application in this game will decide how the result would go,a bit of gamble I would say Rohr is taking a chance with this pair,however,they may turn out a revelation I hope so.
Musa’s experience will be called to duty,at times like this Musa never disappoints I’m counting heavily on him to prove his mettle and lead the super eagles to victory.
Cape Verde don’t have a good home record. We are winning this match irrespective of who the gaffer fields. The likes of Nwobodo and Ifeanyi Mathew are not better than Bonke and Micheal.
@Ayphillydegreat,I like your optimism lad,I hope so too.
In the case of Matthew and Nwobodo,I was rather making a case for numbers in the midfield which unfortunately is very small.
We could do with at least four midfielders to choose from and the best two or three should start depending on formation.
So it’s not a case of who is better but having good numbers good bench as well.
Call a replacement what cos it is a friendly match. Can you guys see that this omo9ja is not well?
We should keep deceiving ourselves. The gaffer knows that UK players won’t be available for today’s match when he has a enough time to call other players to join those that will go to Cape Verde but he decided not to and said he will not call the new players to camp.
So, who shall we blame for this? Omo9ja or we patriotic Nigerians?
For me, I will blame the gaffer himself then Amaju then Oga Rohr fans.
You all see where you brought us to now?
I and others on this platform have been warning you people but you people keep ignoring our words of wisdom and keep using abusive words against us now, the coach have to deliver.
We most win today’s match or at least a draw against the Cape Verde.
I love my country and Super Eagles must not fail in today’s encounter if we have to qualify to the next year world cup. We must do very very well against Cape Verde. Best of luck Super Eagles. God bless Nigeria!!!
Can you list a player that supposed to be invited and name the one that suppose to be dropped. You would have anything to say after the game I bet you.
The coach is a failure…What about players like Ramon Azeez in Almeria,what about the Nwaliki brothers,Awoniyi in germany,Maja as an attacking midfilder..The coach lacks everything it takes to be a good caoch..His level is lower than Nigeria..
As far as am concerned, I think Rohr can be commended for this team line up.
As Far as i am concerned Musa should not be starting.
As far as I’m concerned NFF should pay these boys their dues
Pls any link to watch this match? I have left office because of it
Its on YouTube,on fifa channel,just type Cape Verde vs Nigeria on YouTube,you will probably see many link but click fifa and you should be right there. If you are Nigeria,NTA local chanel will show it as well as startime
Nfftv
God bless you guys
I predicted the line up correctly on CSN this morning. I think it is time I became Super eagles coach….lol
This line ups are contradicting.Flashscores line up
Okoye
Aina,Collins,Awaziem,Omeruo.
Musa,Shehu,Bonke,Simon
Osimhen,Onuachu
This one you posted is not correct
Check flashscore.com this website don’t tell lies,I believe Aina took excuse from camp to sort out a family problem and Joined his teammates on time for this crucial tie.
Belmadi is on to something here. I just love people that speak the truth regardless of whose ox is gored
https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/58463946
Lord Amo, I am with belmadi 100% on this…he said something significant there
“…Labelling infrastructure and refereeing as two major problems of African football, Belmadi did not hold back from slamming the state of the pitch in Algerian city Blida…”
Imagine we are playing a WCQ vs CPV on a creeping pitch….a pitch that’s has suffered seriously from linear expansion and repeated cycles of heating and cooling by elements of the weather.
To add salt to injury, the ref allowed a clear offside goal and failed to award a penalty to us for a kungfu kick to Awaziem’s head in CPV’s penalty area.
There cant be a better validation to that statement from Belmadi other than what we are witnessing at the moment.
Let Ejuke play from the left wing or left upfront while Simon take this natural right wing where Chukwueze plays. To be honest Simon has flopped all the time he plays at the left wing. I remember the days of dem Mikel. Simon used to be very good playing from right wing as Victor Moses tormented opponents from left, he also does it from the right. Meanwhile Ejuke most preferred position is left wing. The guy can be SE Jack Grealish if given enough time. He is simply good. I only hope Rhor see his talent
Fellow Nigerians, the match is live on FIFA TV on YouTube. Good luck Super Eagles. God bless Nigeria!!!
Wow Musa chances like those won’t come often
Please guys which link can I watch this game?
This Moses Simon is just a useless player.
That goal was definitely offside! Is there no VAR?? Come on! How can Rohr and even the players just accept something like that? No VAR??
OK o, I am convinced, gentlemen (ladies too), Ejuke is a player and must be SE mainstay from now on. Oga Rohr take note
Brilliant goal! keep them coming, now lets beat these well! 3 or more goals please!
Ah Ah!! Wait o! what’s going on here? Awaz collect studs fully for head, very dangerous foul, especially with head injuries and concussion being such a huge thing these days yet that swegbe of a so called ref dey tell am mek he get up?? Chaii, please am I the only person seeing what I’m seeing? That so called referee needs to be suspended and sent off for more training before he can be allowed to referee at such a high level again..abi na which kind thing be this o!
Now nobody should tell me that Teslim Balogun is not better than this rubbish call soccer stadium, like seriously who do African like this bayii nitori olorun.
Boy oh boy!! Kingsley is a player! Ejuke is a beauty to watch. Moses simon and innocent have no business in the SE team
I don say am before. This Ejuke na baller. Anyone watching this match will understand he only need to work on his timely passing as he hold on to the ball unnecessary sometimes
Chinekeme!! Ejuke na baller!! Bonke and Kingsley hmmm hmmm hmmm
Collins is having a great game so far. Combining well with Ejuke on the left, delivering quality crosses into the box. Ejuke is his usual self, proving to be a handful for the CV defense. Has taken 2 good shots at goal, unfortunate not to have scored. Good saves from the CV goalie. Osimhen is trying his best, but he is virtually on his own. Not enough support from his partner Musa or the midfielders.
Simon has been wasteful with the ball. Poor crosses on multiple occasions!
So far, our midfield makes me really miss Ndidi, Aribo and Etebo!!!
Defense has been ok.
Man of the match so far is the ref. CV’s goal was offside, he allowed it. Awaziem was fouled in the box by a CV player who’s leg was obviously raised too high. Anywhere in the world, that’s a foul, and it happened in the box, so it’s a penalty. Nothing doing from oga ref.
So far, so good. The 3 points are there for the taking. With the right subs and good game management.
What is Musa and Simon still doing on the pitch for God sake. Shey this Rhor is blind that they’re just on turn pitch to make the number ? Abeg sub both of dem b4 dis pple go score us ooo
We got the job done, but we made life difficult for ourselves with poor game management.
The team played ok. Not the best, but then this is not our best team.
Onyekuru and Moffi’s entrance injected more energy into our attack. The high press we played put pressure on the CV defender Santos, and led to the own goal.
Our game management remains a big problem. CV had no business getting a point from this game, yet they almost did. Poor game management has caused us to lose a lot of games in the past. This is something Rohr needs to work on. How to protect a lead, how to keep the ball in areas your opponent is not comfortable with, how to keep possession, things like these. We just kept turning over possession in the midfield, and CV kept pouncing, and their confidence kept growing. We need to do a better job of managing the game next time.
3 points in the bag. That’s the most important thing.
Bros forget that game management thing the most important thing is that we won another away match in a very difficult circumstances. Imagine if we have our full squad against this Cape Verde side?? Abeg let NFF Onigbese fulfill their promise of 20m abi na one Airpeace chairman promise them that money make them make sure the boys get all their entitlements or else!!!
Abi oo @Ayphilldegreat instead of him to congratulate the team for a job weldone he is talking about game management when a team is been beating in his backyard and u expected them not to react. Why were they not playing like that before the second goal? The coach said they have a plan and he knows how the opponent play before the match and truly he has. Congratulations to the entire team and technical crew let’s do it again in October
Ayphilly, I should forget about game management because we won today? What if CV had grabbed a last minute equalizer, with the way we kept presenting the ball to them in the midfield? They almost equalized in the 90th minute!
I wish we could manage a game like Cameroon of the late eighties, early nineties. Those guys knew how to manage a game, keep dangerous opponents at bay.
The way we played today was enough to beat CV, but it may not be enough for Algeria, Senegal, CIV. Good European teams like Italy, England, Belgium will take us to the cleaners. We need to be more compact as a team, and manage the game better.
The truth is bitter, but we must face it. The team did great today, especially being mainly composed of reserve players. But there is more work to be done.
@Pompei, you people talk as if other teams come sell groundnuts for field, their legs should not touched ball at all.. What game management are you talking about? What happened to ur game management when the SE pressured the defence into making errors for both goals? Where is your game management when subs were made and pressure was on them? Where is your game management when Ejuke and Collins makes that left flank their birth right? Where is your game management when Awaziem and Omeruo completely bossed the defense until they only have one shot on target? My man, it’s not easy when you playing on the best turfs in Europe day in day out, only to come and play in 2 Millett farms of stadium in Africa. The boys really gave their all, we should give them and the crew kudos not to talk of any game management that really works out for them. Imagine if today’s match was played in wembley, the CV wouldn’t have take less than 4 goals. GR has his game plan, he deployed it and its works well for him
Ola, are you saying that because we won today, I should only praise our strengths, but ignore our weaknesses?
I praised the team already. But I also pointed out weaknesses that can be costly when we meet a better team.
I shouldn’t say anything about how we almost conceded a goal at the last minute because we kept giving the ball to CV?
My man, you may view the world through rose colored glasses, only wishing to see what you like and ignoring what you don’t like. That is your choice and I respect it. But me, I’m too much of a realist to do that. I want this team to be able to beat teams like Belgium and England at the world cup, and I will make suggestions I feel will take us there. What we did today was great against CV, who are a stubborn, physically fit side. But we need to do better. If you don’t like what I said, then you have a problem with the truth!
Pompei, No one is saying you should not point out any weakness or strength but must be done under a judicious situation.
You keep hammering on game management but do they have the enabling environment to execute that?
Before we critisised, we have to consider the circumstances surrounding the performances.
Do you know that French, English or Brazilian teams will fumble under the same conditions (bad pitches) that the eagles played? Does it mean they don’t have games management too? You might have a thousand ideas, if you don’t have the enabling set up to execute it, it will still looks as if you don’t have anything at all.
So let’s leave that aside and wait until we are in a situation to critically and truly assess them. God bless
Wow wow wow @Pompei, sooooooooo, you can say the truth like this ehn? All this while kę?
We thank God for the victory but more still needed to be done in this team.
We should forget about the name “reserve team”
The boys that played today match for Nigeria was our main senior national team players kę.
So what do we talking about? I am not satisfied when Oga made his substitutions. Cape Verde made their substitutions at the right time.
Thank God that we did not play against Algeria,, Egypt, Morocco or more experienced team in today’s match.
Well, the truth is very bitter. We will talk about that later.
Let me stop here for now. Let the celebrations continue ojeee ee. God bless Nigeria!!!
You will always complain about one thing or the other. It better we appoint you has super eagles substitution coach.
Lol Omo9ja, oya, it is your turn to tell the truth. Did Rohr not do well today? Dem never pay em salary ooo, gobe for hotel that affected his training plans, players bonuses unpaid, nonsense pitches, yet Rohr still finds a way to give us 6 points after 2 games!
Are you sure you still want to sack him now? Omo9ja, you too say the truth!
Thank God for the victory against Cape Verde.
Of course I will say the truth @Pompei. I just want it to cool down a bit but since you asked me to do so, let me talk a bit.
Congratulations to Oga Rohr and his team. They did their very best in today’s match. Kudos to them.
However, you see Pompei, we should count ourselves lucky and I hope it continue this way.
The coaches still have a lot to work on in this team. We were so lucky today that we did not play against Algeria, Egypt, Senegal and Morocco.
Our players used their experience to prevent the Cape Verde threats and it works for them.
We should thank God that we had that Micheal in the team today. The midfield lack creativity. Nwakali was missing in that team.
Micheal should be man of the match. Also, Ejuke and Awaziem were awesome in today’s match.
Okoye? I won’t blame him at all because I have warned Oga and Agu that the young man is not there yet but because our coaches not sound technically and tactically enough and they are bn biased all this while, the goal keeping department will continue shaky.
Uzoho is our no1 not Okoye. For the past good five years of Oga Rohr and Agu, we still don’t have a world class keeper like Ikeme? It is a shame.
Onyekuru did what the Super Eagles lacking in the first half of the match.
We saw what he brought into the game but still, Oga Rohr will bench him.
Ejuke, He will be bench or not going to make the list after this match just watch out for Oga list.
Oga Rohr surprised me a bit in today’s match because he almost gotten it right.
At least, if NFF can get him an expert, that will be ok otherwise, we can not hold our own against the better team.
Our main team played today not the second team. But the gaffer didn’t believe in them but they proved themselves.
NFF have no choice, they have to pay the players their dues.
I am happy because Nigeria were Vitorious in today’s match but I am more concerned about the team. As a team, we are not there but individuals yes, we are better but we can not continue that way.
Congratulations to Oga Rohr and his team once again. God bless Nigeria!!!
@Pompei… always a balanced analyst. You see how folks like @Ola and @Ayphillydegreat wasted no time to try to muffle your objectivity shey? This is why some of us keep having problems with such comardes here… as we point out the good side, we must never forget to talk about the evident weaknesses that the team may still have… game management is always very key to any team getting results their way… the team needs to improve more with possession… our two goals today were to a large extent some level of sloppiness in Cape Verde defence… take away those goals and honestly anyone will see that the match was initially going to be evry difficult for us… we must still watch our back with Cape Verde and never allow them crawl back into the challenge for the group’s sole ticket!
Oga, your criticism is always baseless and borne out of hatred, my response to Pompeii is to let him understand the reason behind his perceived thought of lack of game management.
Am not an antagonistic of good things but l reason broadly on issues
Truth must be told… Why is Coach Rohr using Maduka ahead of Uzoho? I have said long ago that Maduka does not have what it takes to be Super Eagles number one yet… the guy clearly isn’t fit to bench Uzoho and we also need to look at that Israel goalie… Okoye is not what we need yet.
Oga, remind me again what team Uzoho is playing for and how many hours of football has he played this season.
That a goalkeeper has one off day doesn’t make him an overnight failure, DE gea, Edwin Val Der Sal, Oblak, even Donnaramous, all of them has made errors that cost their teams.
Seems spatar Rotterdam coach is also clueless for sticking to him as his number 1