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Ighalo in Nigeria’s squad for clash against Cape Verde and Liberia as Rohr confirms his return

The former Manchester United star is back in the national team fold almost three years after he retired from international football 

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has said that Al-Shabab forward is in his provisional squad for Nigeria’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde and Liberia.

This comes after Soccernet first broke the news of Ighalo’s potential return. The Super Eagles take on the Blue Sharks and the Lone Stars in their final group qualifying games, and Rohr has revealed that the former Watford is part of the squad.

Rohr revealed he decided to recall Ighalo because of his leadership, although it is still left for the 32-year-old striker to accept the invitation.

“I put him in the bigger provisional first list for the next games, Rohr said in a Q&A on Elegbete TV. 

“He is doing very well at his club, and he still has the ambition to help his country. Because we miss his leadership, we miss his experience. We miss the goals he scores.”

He was the best scorer at the AFCON, the best scorer during the qualifiers, and I think we have so many young players, and they could learn a lot on the side of such a great player.

“Ighalo is a very important man. I hope that he can come back,” he added.

The Al-Shabab striker retired from international duty after Nigeria’s third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, where he finished as the top scorer with five goals.

Before his retirement, he scored 16 goals in 35 games for the Super Eagles.

This post was last modified on November 1, 2021 8:47 am

Joba Ogunwale

Oluwajoba Ogunwale has many years of experience as a sports content writer. The most recent of these was at Opera News, after which he took up the role of Editor-in-Chief at Soccernet.

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  • A slow striker...whose time has passed

    Who could not break in the first team at Man U

    And wouldn't even feature at any of Europe elite team
    What a shame.....

    • @Aso can you kick a ball for FIVE minutes. he's slow striker and yet he helped Man utd. to an extent. It's people like you we need banish from Nigeria, never satisfied over little efforts. You think it's easy to serve Nigeria baa. Oya wear his jersey on the pitch of play

  • Igahlo is still deadly inside the box, and I welcome the idea of bringing him back into the national team. How many natural strikers do we have in the team?

  • Ighalo leadership and courage is still needed in our team Super Eagles. Sometimes It’s not about energy and how fast you can run as a player. But knows where to stand and the ball will come. And what to do with the ball at critical times. Also the young players spirit will be strong too. Another player they need to lure into our team is Victor Moses. He still has something to offer. I hope he (Victor Moses) changes his mind.

    • VICTOR MOSES Should Know that anytime he is Caution by his LEADER , He Should not Picked Offences because no good Management will b happy without acheiving his set objective. He is a good player but he should behave mature and Discipline must go with a man who needs GOD,s guardians and Some one who wants to b a good Leader in Future mostly when Your Coutry is in needs of Ur Service.

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