SUPER Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, has hinted that his attack against the Chipolopolo of Zambia tomorrow in the 2018 World Cup qualifier will be spearheaded by Arsenal of England forward Alex Iwobi.
The Franco-German dropped the hint on Friday at a media parley held at the Eagles’ Bolton White Hotel camp in Abuja ahead of the team’s departure for Ndola today, saying he counts on Iwobi to help the Eagles win against Zambia in their backyard.
According to Rohr, the Eagles need a good striker who can deliver goals for the team, saying that one major problem noticed during the Eagles’ dead-rubber Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Tanzania in Uyo was the inability to score.
“Iwobi was injured the last time and he couldn’t play against Tanzania. Naturally, he is here; everybody knows that he is a good player and I hope his integration in the team will be made for our first big game together in Ndola.
“The training was good, we tried to help him by bringing him into the team.We analysed our own game so he knows how we played in Uyo. We cannot change so much tactically because the time is short to change to other systems or strategies. We will be similar in what we will do in Zambia.
“I count a lot on him that he can help us to win the game. We must have a good striker, a good attacker, we must have a good quality playing game; we must have players who can score because the problem in Uyo was, we didn’t score enough. We had 27 shots on goal and only scored one goal. So it was a problem,” the former Gabon gaffer stated.
Rohr informed that he and his technical crew had analysed the last five games of the Zambians and discovered their system of play, saying that though the Chipolopolo may want to win Sunday’s game, the Eagles’ motivation is bigger.
He declared that his team’s motivation is to win Sunday’s away game to begin the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign on a sure footing, warning, however, that the Eagles have to avoid making mistakes in Ndola.
“We have videos of their [Zambia’s] last five games. We know what happened but they have changed the coach now. There can’t be much difference but I think we will have the same players.
“We know them very well. We watched their videos yesterday [Thursday] and two days before. We have the free kicks, the corners. We have the system of playing. We know that they are strong in the attack; they have good players now becoming a little older.
“They were champions in Gabon, some of them are always here, they have big experience; perhaps less quick but I think this game is very important against a good side.
“They would want to win. They missed AFCON, the same motivation like ours, but our motivation can be bigger because this team wants absolutely to win the game.
“We must be very careful if we want to win the game away. Sometimes you forget to defend well. We must be careful, don’t make this mistake,” Rohr said.
While saying that from the videos they watched, the Ndola pitch was not good, Rohr declared that the Eagles were professionals and should be able to play on the bad pitch.
“The pitch is not good. We must be able to play well on the bad pitch. We are professionals. We know in Africa we have bad pitches, so it is not a new experience for them. But we must be careful on the control of the ball.”
“Our game of one touch will be difficult. So we must control and play quickly. I think our team is able to show. You saw it in Uyo, it was not a good playing pitch too but they played well. We want to play; it is not changing the style of play, long ball, kick and follow, no. We want to play even when it is on bad pitch.”
Meanwhile, the technical adviser informed that there are no injury worries in the Eagles camp ahead of Sunday’s game.
According to him, “everybody is OK. Everybody played on Wednesday [against Plateau United in a friendly] and you have seen them. In trainings, no injuries. No physical injury and no mental problem.”
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