Rohr: I’m Satisfied With Simy’s, Eagles’ Performance Vs DR Congo; England Game Will Be Better

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, has expressed his delight over the impressive showing of Crotone striker Simy Nwankwo on his Nigeria debut in the 1-1 draw with DR Congo – an international friendly game played at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium Port Harcourt on Monday, Completesportsnigeria.com reports.

Nwankwo who scored seven goals for Crotone in the Serie A in the just concluded season in Italy forced three brilliant saves from the Congolese goalkeeper and was a handful for the Leopards’ defenders. “It was a very good match because we played against a very good team from Congo. They came with a great squad,” Rohr told reporters in Port Harcourt after the game.

“The game was agood test for the players particularly those who we didn’t know very well. I’m satisfied with the performance of Simy. He is a natural centre forward. He didn’t have a profile until we found him.”

Rohr also explained reasons why Mikel Obi Odion Ighalo and John Ogu didn’t feature in the encounter.

He said: “We had to see some players who didn’t play so much. Two of them made the team and the pitch was not easy to play on. We didn’t want to take the risk of playing some players who arrived tired coming from China.

“The young players played very well, we scored a wonderful goal. We could have scored more but in the end we conceded a penalty.”

The German tactician also revealed that the Super Eagles will be at full strength when they take on the Three Lions of England on Saturday at the Wembley stadium.

“We have some problems with our full-backs, but I think in few days, we will have a full complement of our team with Victor Moses, Ighalo and Mikel. I think the team will be better than what we saw against Congo when we play on Saturday (against England). It was interesting to see everybody play.”

The Super Eagles are expected to depart Port Harcourt today (Tuesday morning) for Abuja where they will take part in a seminar on wealth creation, investment opportunities and portfolio management at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja in the afternoon.

They will also meet with President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) later on Tuesday evening.