Rohr Reveals The Real Reason He Substituted Iheanacho Against Seychelles

Published: September 10, 2018

Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr has revealed the real reason he had to substitute Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles and it had nothing to do with his performance.

Though the injury-prone Iheanacho was struggling on the artificial turf, the former Bayern Munich defender has clarified that he was forced to substitute the striker because he received a booking in the 59th minute and another yellow card would have ruled him out of the crucial match with Libya next month.

In a post-match interview with Brila FM's Okoroji Chidozie, Rohr said : ''It was not an easy game because Seychelles team was very aggressive, they fought so much.

''They had the first match with their new coach so they wanted absolutely to have a result against us. Second half was difficult against the winds and against the team fighting so much but we scored our three goals.

''It is a good score away to win 3-0 so I 'm satisfied about the result. Second half was more difficult and we had one injury and two yellow cards, that's why I changed Kelechi, I didn't want to him to have a second yellow card.

'We dominated this match and we scored three goals, 2-0 already at half-time. We had one set piece, one penalty, so it's really important for us to win this game and now we can prepare for the Libya match very well.''

Chelsea defender Kenneth Omeruo was the other Nigerian player cautioned against the Pirates but he is eligible for the next 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Libya.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : thenff.com