Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr on Thursday named his 23-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying double-header against Central African Republic
Prominent on the list is Glasgow Rangers of Scotland left-back Calvin Ughelumba Bassey.
The 21-year-old was born Italy and is eligible to play for Italy, Nigeria or England at international level.
2022 WCQ: Rohr Invites Calvin Bassey, Osimhen, Onuachu 20 Others For CAR Double-Header
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Bassey joined Premier League club Leicester City at the age of 15 after a successful trial and progressed through the club’s youth ranks, with regular appearances for the clubs’ U-18 and U-23 sides.
The defender linked up with Rangers from Premier League club Leicester City last summer.
He made his professional debut for Rangers in a Scottish Premiership match against St Mirren on August 9, 2020.
14 Comments
Tyrone Ebuehi should have been invited instead of this Bassey guy. Ebuehi plays in Serie A and this Bassey plays in Scotland. Eyimba will defeat Motherwell or Dundee United,….LMAO
@Peter, How many minutes has Ebuehi played since the start of the season and how was his performance?
And don’t forget that Venezia is a bottom team in Italy while Rangers are defending Champion and topping the league currently in Scotland
The guy Calvin surely deserved this call up, it’s long overdue bro
Indication that you rarely know football as a team sports. Bassey and Oghuehi are the of same position?
Dundee will beat Enyimba. Football is not played on the pages of newspapers but on the pitch.
Welcome bro Good luck
If Bassey is invited or not invited, Tyronne Ebuehi has been our humble servant and he’s better than Sanusi and some, he should have been invited, only if he told the coach he want to be excluded, and I don’t blame him, look at how the Covid thing messed up his chances.
It’s not Calvin Bassey that is blocking the invitation of Tyronne Ebuche because they play different positions
.That’s said Calvin Bassey is a good addition to the super Eagles fold . Though he is not playing in a top five league ,he has Champions or Europe leaugue experience which is far better than playing in a small club like Venezia in a top five league.
Aribo and balogun are not not playing in too 5 leagues, yet we invite them. And bassey and ebuehi are not playing in the same position.
People who criticize Rhor’s player invitations never have a good reason why the do so. It’s always this or that one should have been invited instead regardless of the individual’s current form or whether or not the individual is getting playing time in his club.
Bassey’s invitation is a welcome development. He is a strong left footed player who can play as a left full back, left footed central defender and probably in a back three (3). His crosses are on point ( which I cant say the same about ebuehi) so he is a great addition. Lets just hope he gets some game time. Look for combination with Aribo on match day.
Ebuehi is a good defender but I feel he should be used more as a right back while we use natural left footed players as left back. Aina is two footed so he can play in both full back positions.
Bassey invitation is perfectly timed, in as much as I like Ebuehi, he has not played much this season. Rohr really supposed to invite Azubuike Okechukwu, that guy deserves an invitation. He is natural defensive midfielder. With no disrespect to Bonke’s quality, Azubuike Okechukwu for me is a better choice than Bonke. Credit to Rohr for inviting Bassey, SE left wing back now is getting interesting. Super eagles is getting interesting generally.
Zubby is a ball playing midfielder but has not been active lately.Besides Rohr is not a fan of Zubby never got a look in when he was in form and don’t see that happening now he’s not playing much.
Bonke is a tough tackler,hardworking but not a ball playing midfielder so retaining possession will be hard with a player like Bonke.Every coach with their likes,Siasia would go for Zubby but Rohr would rather have a tough tackler to a skilled ball player in the defensive midfield.
Rogr isnt a fan of fancy playing midfielders that is why he doesn’t think much of players like eze, olise, ejaria.
He likes effective players in midfield. Those who can protect the defence and win balls from the opposition.
As long as the midfielder is strong and can pass the ball to any of the wingers or forward players, he is ok.
Iwobi is the only exception because he is very good at carrying and moving the ball in the midfield. Even Aribo plays more like a deep lying midfielder in the Super Eagles but is more attack minded and creative for his club, rangers.
Rohr likes wing play, thats why he can call up as many as 5 or 6 wingers for a match while calling up 4 or 5 midfielders with more than half of the midfielders being holding, defensive or central midfielders with just one or two being creative midfielders.
It has worked for him so far so lets see where it goes.
One player who will really profit from Bassey’s presence is Onuachu!
Bassey is very good at delivering crosses into the box, which is Onuachu’s BREAD AND BUTTER.
You can expect at least one goal coming from these two if they are on the pitch together. Bassey will surely deliver crosses into the box, and Onuachu will attack them. It will then be our opponent’s task to come up with defenders that can stop an airborne Onuachu!