Gernot Rohr has explained the reasoning behind his decision to leave some players out of his squad for the upcoming friendly game against Ukraine next month, Owngoalnigeria.com reports.
The coach stuck to most of the players he used in prosecuting the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations bar the quartet of John Obi Mikel, John Ogu, Daniel Akpeyi and Odion Ighalo.
Their spot in the team was handed to Joe Aribo, Kelechi Iheanacho, Maduka Okoye and Semi Ajayi with two of the aforementioned players in Aribo and Okoye earning their first call up to the team.
Explaining his decision to leave out some players, the coach explained issues like retirement from the team like in the case of John Obi Mikel played a role in his decision while John Ogu need to sort his future out.
” Our captain has retired from international football and we need to replace him and some players are also sorting their future with their club football. So we called players we have been following for some time now”, the coach said.
Speaking on the exclusion of some players who are presently doing well for their respective teams, the Franco-German coach said consideration was given to the U23s when the list of players for the Ukraine tie was released.
” You know some players are with the U23s, so we can’t call them here to disturb the program of the coach. We will be watching the team for players who can also play in our team and some of our players will also play with the team”.
