Nigeria v Sierra Leone: Rohr, Troost-Ekong talk tough

 

Nigeria head coach Gernot Rohr and assistant skipper William Troost-Ekong are confident the Super Eagles will secure the three points against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, in the second leg of the Group L matchday four 2021 AFCON qualifiers in Freetown later today.

The Eagles will hope to put behind them Friday’s shock 4-4 draw against the Leone Stars in Benin City

Speaking after the Eagles’ training session on Monday, Rohr said he is confident his players will emerge victorious come Tuesday, CompleteSports writes.

“The expectations are to have a good match. We have discovered the condition of the stadium, the grass, also the hot weather. The travelling was okay, little bit long, but I think we can recover until tomorrow afternoon and of course our objective is to win the game,” he said.

“We wanted to secure four points from the two matches to qualify which is still possible. I believe in my team, I think we can do it but it will be difficult like I said before the last match, we saw it in the second half that they have a good team.

“But we can play very well, we showed it in the first 30 minutes  (in Benin). We want to play like that, playing forward, scoring goals but defending better than we did the last time.

“We have confidence and Nigerians should believe the players will fight and they will give their best. I think we are ready for this match.”

Rohr who disclosed that there are no injury worries says Victor Osimhen will be missed.

Osimhen, who was on target in the reverse fixture in Benin, dislocated his shoulder and had to return to his club Napoli.

“We will miss Osimhen perhaps another change in the team but the players that will get the chance tomorrow will fight until the end of the match.”

“No injury except the one by Osimhen we will miss him but other players are here to come in.”

Also speaking, Watford defender Troost-Ekong said if the Eagles can replicate their first half performance which saw then race to a 4-0 lead, then victory is guaranteed.

“We are ready, we just finished a good practice session and everyone’s ready for the game tomorrow.

“We prepare like any other game with this team  (Sierra Leone) we don’t under-estimate anyone and if we can just bring what we did in the first half of the last game and make sure we keep concentrated and see out the game, I think we have a good chance to do what we need to do.

“They (Nigerian fans) will see a team that is very hungry to get the win here. We want to qualify as soon as possible and it is up to us to do it tomorrow.”