Gernot Rohr is set to announce his 23 men shortlist for the Sierra-Leone game in the coming days. One of the most crucial parts of his team is the striking position and there’re some conundrums the Franco-German tactician must solve going forward into the game against Nigeria’s neighbors.
Victor Osimhen has undoubtedly been amazing since the beginning of 2020 having scored 4 times in 10 matches for Lille in 2020, thus making him the first choice attacker for Super Eagles. But with the uncertainty surrounding the injury he sustained in the game against Angers SCO on Friday, one of many headaches for Gernot Rohr will be how to fill the void left by the 21-year-old.
In this article, we consider some top Nigerian strikers the Super Eagle’s head coach should consider giving a chance.
Cyriel Dessers
Cyriel is a Belgian – Nigerian striker who plays for Heracles Almelo. The 24-year-old was born to a Nigerian father and a Belgian mother. He currently tops the Dutch Eredivisie scorers chart with 14 goals and 5 assists to his name. He was rated as the Best Player in Dutch Eredivise in November 2018 after a staggering goalscoring feat for the highflying Heraclieden side.
He professed his love to play for the Super Eagles last December. He said in a statement “After a series of discussions with the NFF President Amaju Pinnick, I have decided to fully commit myself to Nigeria and the Super Eagles and I’m going to work to be part of the team and fight for more success for the country,”
Although he apparently hasn’t played for any of the countries he is connected to, but his love and patriotism for his fatherland cannot be underestimated; which is why Gernot Rohr should give him a call up to the National Team when there’s still the chance.
READ ALSO: African Dream Team From 2016 Till Date
Kelechi Iheanacho
This is not a new name in Nigerian football. The 23-year-old missed out on the AFCON last year after failing to impress Leicester’s former manager (Claude Puel).
It will be recalled that the last time Iheanacho featured for Nigeria was on the 14th of November 2017 in a friendly against Argentina. In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and incidentally the last game in which he showed classy performance. Scoring two goals in Nigeria’s four goals on the night. Albeit making the bench in some of the Friendlies right after the African Cup Of Nations.
There seems to have been a turn-around for Iheanacho under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester. He has enjoyed some blistering moments under the Scottish manager at Leicester, scoring 8 in 13 appearances. No doubt, some lessons have been learned by the Super Eagles forward and a fresh window to prove his worth again.
Anthony Nwakaeme
This 30-year-old has only 1 cap for Nigeria which came in 2017 but one critical reason why he should be invited to the national team is that so far in 2020, he is the only Nigerian attacker with most goals; scoring 5 and 1 assist.
After making his debut in 2017 for the Super Eagles against Algeria, he further stated in 2019 that he deserves subsequent call-ups to the National team but sadly he hasn’t commanded the attractions of the Gernot Rohr and also the quality of the league in which he plays (then) was nothing to write about. He made a switch to a Turkish side Trabzonspor in 2018 and has gone to register 18 goals in 45 appearances for the Karadeniz Fırtınası. Maybe not a bad statistics for a striker trying to revive his international career, but his call up might juggle up competition upfront with other attackers.
