Rohr’s panic over players withdrawal unfortunate, says Abdul Sule

Former international, Abdul Sule, has described as unfortunate Coach Gernot Rohr’s seeming confusion following the withdrawal of some of the players he invited for today’s clash between Super Eagles and Cameroon in Austria. Sule said the coach’s behaviour showed he had no plan to incorporate players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) into the senior national team.

He told The Guardian on Monday that he was surprised by the anxiety expressed by Rohr, adding that in normal circumstances, the German should by now have a standing home-based team to pick players from in any situation.

“Honestly speaking, since there was the withdrawal of players from the friendly against Cameroon, he should give the home-based players chance to showcase their talents.

“By now, one would have expected Rohr to discover new players in the NPFL who will be incorporated into the national team. I wonder if he watches our league matches at all.”

Sule argued that if the home-based players were not given opportunities to play in international friendlies, it would be difficult for them to gain the experience required for such games.

Sule, who first featured for the Super Eagles under Clemens Westerhof while playing for Stationery Stores of Lagos, said getting the chance to play alongside Europe-based players helped the home-based stars to build their confidence.

He added: “When I was playing in the local league, the country had a substantive home-based Super Eagles. And we had the opportunity to rub shoulders with our foreign-based counterparts each time there was an international engagement.

“During the qualifiers to the USA 94 World Cup, we had several home-based players, who featured in the qualifiers… a lot of them were even at the World Cup in USA because there was a foundation.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing of such again, which is a signal that we need to have a substantive home-based Eagles in order to avoid this kind of situation.”