Eagles Training : Ebuehi & Ola Aina Audition For Back-Up To Abdullahi Shehu At World Cup

Published: May 26, 2018

Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has stepped up his hunt for a back-up to Abdullahi Shehu, with the German set to announce his final World Cup roster in the next one week or so.

Apart from the Bursaspor defender, the Super Eagles squad is packed with several defenders who can slot in at right-back in the shape of Kenneth Omeruo, Chidozie Awaziem, Brian Idowu and Leon Balogun, however, Rohr has identified two players Benfica new signing Tyronne Ebuehi and Chelsea's Ola Aina as the alternative.

Ebuehi appears to be ahead of Aina in the pecking order of right-backs as he played for the Team B which also contained the undisputed first-choice central defenders Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong in the practice match, while Aina made Team A's line-up.

On top of that, the ADO Den Haag young star performed admirably in this morning's workout and did not show any signs of damage despite his inactivity for his Dutch club before he reported for international duty.

Ebuehi overlapped better, timed his runs going forward, was not caught out in defense and protected his zone well.

Aina is one of the versatile players in the Super Eagles squad, if not the most versatile, and can play in central defense, at right back or left back, right winger, left midfielder and right midfielder, and still stands a chance of being on the plane to Russia on June 11.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel