Former Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai has called on the Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr to beef up the team with some crop of home base players with the withdrawal of some of the foreign-based players from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho.
Recall that Almeria’s Umar Sadiq, FC Leganes defender,Umar Sadiq, and Nantes winger, Simone Moses have been prevented by their respective clubs to honour the make or mar games due to the Covid-19 travel ban imposed by some countries in Europe.
With just a few days to the crucial games against the Squirrels of Benin and Crocodile of Lesotho, Rufai in an exclusive chat with Completesports stated that the withdrawal of some of the foreign-based players should signal the need for Rohr to focus more on Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) to search for quality players.
“It has gotten to a stage where the Super Eagles must pay attention to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) to discover players that he feels may be good for the team.
“The sudden withdrawal of some of the foreign-based players due to covid-19 travel ban is not their doing but a sign that the German tactician must focus on our league. Don’t be surprised if more players withdraw from the games because of this reason and we will be left with few players to prosecute the Benin and Lesotho games.
“I am quite delighted that he has invited a few players from the league but I just hope he will learn from this and try to include the domestic players in his team. I certainly believe Nigeria will qualify for the bi-annual tournament.”
