Kenneth Omeruo has been the stand out player for Nigeria in central defence at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Egypt and many were surprised when coach Gernot Rohr dropped him to the bench for the game against Madagascar which Nigeria lost 0-2.
Rohr played his favourite central defence pairing of Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong but unlike the dominace that led to the nickname “Oyibo Wall” the team conceded twice and in the process lost their clean sheet record made in the first two games which they won 1-0 ‎against Burundi and Guinea respectively.
Omeruo was the man of the match against Guinea with his header ending up as the winner for Nigeria, a follow up on his impressive showing against Burundi in the Super Eagles first game of the tournament, where he made the lineup due to the absence of Balogun who was just recovering from illness.
Owngoalnigeria.com exclusively gathered that Rohr still prefers the “Oyibo Wall ” and was hoping they will make a statement against Madagascar but things didn’t work out with Balogun error leading to the first goal conceded by Nigeria and generally the team didn’t look coordinate in defence.
Although the plan was to give Omeruo a rest before the knockout round, Rohr would have no doubt drop him from the starting lineup for the knockout round if all had worked out well in the game against Madagascar.
