Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has insisted that Moses Simon got the nod to start ahead of Samuel Chukwueze in his side’s hard-fought 3-2 win over Cameroon on Saturday evening because the Levante winger has better defensive qualities than the Villarreal starlet.
Trailing 2-1, the introduction of Chukwueze in the 61st minute changed the outcome of the game as the Super Eagles equalised before grabbing the winner five minutes after he subbed in.
”The question is easy to answer, you know when you have some offensive players like Oyongo, the left-back from Cameroon, who is coming forward all the time and you have an offensive strong player like Chukwueze but defensively not so good like Simon Moses, who plays in his club a more defensive position because they play 3-5-2,” said Gernot Rohr at the post-match press conference.
”He’s playing on the right or the left side, so we decided to start like this to have stability in the team and to bring in Chukwueze in the good moment. He came in after 16 minutes in the second half.
”I don’t believe that it changed the result but it helped us to win and to score the two goals.”
The Super Eagles will now face South Africa on Wednesday, July 10 with a place in the semi-final at stake.
