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Automatic Shirt For Me, Sack Rohr or I quit, says Igiebor

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA
Christopher Green, head of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has admonished Super Eagles’ Nosa Igiebor to reconsider his stand on future national call ups. Igiebor, who on Sunday scored a last minute goal to aid his Turkish Süper Lig club, Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü to a 6-0 defeat of Bursaspor, has vowed never to honour any call up by Gernot Rohr, the Super Eagles’ manager.
Another Nigerian player, Bright Edomwonyi had earlier scored to take the tally to 5-0.
Igiebor has not featured for a minute in any of the four matches Rohr had been in charge of the Nigerian side. The mid fielder was quoted at the weekend as saying: “It’s true; I’m no longer interested in playing for Nigeria as long as Gernot Rohr remains the coach.
“He disrespected me. He treated me like I’m nobody. I won’t honour any more calls unless if he assures me that I will play.
“I can’t watch players I’m better than play ahead of me.” If statistics obtained from Soccerway, an online football publication is anything to be considered, Igiebor has played 10 matches out of 30 matches for his Turkish club this season.
That made him the least active of the Nigerian trio in the club. Defender, Godfrey Oboabona has been more regular, playing 24 of the 30 matches so far for the club. Also, Bright Edomwonyi, who scored nine minutes before Igiebor’s last minute goal in the Sunday 6-0 defeat of Bursaspor in the Turkish Süper Lig, had played 12 times, two more than Igiebor who is calling for an automatic Super Eagles’ shirt or the sack of the coach.
In a popular whatsapp group chat, “Family United by Sports” anchored by Godwin Enakhena, Green remarked that Nosa is “no doubt a huge talent and no player want to sit on the bench. It boils down to what the coach wants from the player. As a professional he should just continue to work on his game. I like a player that is so confident of himself but for him to say he would not honour any call up under Rohr is taking it too far.”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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