Nigeria vs Ghana: NFF couldn’t influence my decisions –Gernot Rohr speaks following criticism of Ogenyi Onazi’s selection by Austin Eguavoen

Former Super Eagles of Nigeria head coach, Gernot Rohr, has reacted to the criticism meted towards current Super Egales Technical adviser, Augustine Eguavoen following his inclusion of Ogenyi Onazi into the squad that will battle Ghana for a place in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Eguavoen unveiled a 32-man squad to face Ghana in the 2022 World Cup playoffs, with seven of them on standby.

Two players whose inclusion caused uproar in the football world were Watford’s Oghenekaro Etebo and Ogenyi Onazi.

Etebo has been injured for a long time while Onazi last played for the super Eagles two years ago and has not been involved in the Super Eagles due to poor form and a bad injury record.

 
Onazi was without a club after leaving Turkish second division side Denizlispor in December, before he joined Saudi Arabia’s Al Adalah and despite that he hasn’t made an appearance for the club yet making Nigerians wonder why he should even be included.

Following the criticism, Eguavoen admitted that he included the ex-Lazio star to “pacify everybody”.

Rohr who was unceremoniously sacked by the NFF after clinching bronze at the 2019 nations cup and leading Nigeria to a play off berth against Ghana has now responded, 
 hinting that certain people attempted to influence his team selection while he was in charge.

Rohr, speaking with ESPN, revealed that the topshots at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) couldn’t influence his decision.

He said: “It is not the moment to speak about the ‘advice’ I got from them about which players we can invite for the national team because I want the players to focus and go to the World Cup.

“But they couldn’t influence my decisions.”