Rohr Admits It Was Difficult To Drop Nigeria Hero Iwobi

An Alex Iwobi goal after 74 minutes sent Nigeria to their sixth appearance in the World Cup, and manager Gernot Rohr has admitted that it was difficult dropping the Arsenal wonderkid to the bench versus Zambia.

The Hale End Academy product as well as the other substitutes would have realized on Thursday, October 5 they were going to start the game on the bench after playing for the Team B in the practice game.

It's not that Iwobi was being punished for missing the World Cup qualifiers against Cameroon, as Rohr didn't want to change the winning team that did so well last month.

''Iwobi had a great game when he came on for Simon, scoring the important goal,'' said Gernot Rohr at the post-match press conference.

''It was difficult to drop him (Iwobi) from the starting line-up but Simon also did well''.

Prior to Saturday evening's game, the last time Iwobi was named among the substitutes for a Nigeria fixture was against Egypt on March 29, 2016.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel