Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying match away against Cape Verde will pose a challenge for the Coaches and players, manager Gernot Rohr has admitted.
As many as nine players from the team that beat Liberia 2-0 in the opening group C game will not travel with the squad to the Island nation the Coach revealed.
With a two-day window before their next match and assembling a new team, Rohr believes there’s still a chance of getting a good result.
“Nine players are leaving; it’s all the team, so there’ll be another team,” a perplexed Rohr revealed after the game.
“It’s not easy to build another team in only two days to play on a synthetic pitch, it’s the other side of the extreme situation.
“We are coming from the very heavy grass after the rains to a dry synthetic pitch – another condition, another team, we have to build another defence another midfield. We’ll also leave the goalscorer, Kelechi (Iheanacho), he leaves so it will not be easy.
“It’s a challenge for the staff and for the players, but we have to show our solidarity and the players who are coming in now, so we will be 20 players going to go to Cape Verde. So we will be able to make a good team.
“We have to manage this situation without searching for alibis if its not going well. And I believe our team is able to bring another good performance even if we know that it is more difficult than the game today (Friday).”
