Nigeria’s technical crew are considering two formations for Saturday’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles, with the coaches said to be putting heads together during each training session on adopting either 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 for the game.
While Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr is said to be prefer 3-5-2, which has given the team their best results in recent time, his assistant argue that the team has to play 4-3-3 because of the players available in camp.
The absence of four key defenders means Rohr’s options in defence are limited, which could make 3-5-2 ideal, with Leon Aderemi Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo and Chidozie Awaziem in the rear, while Brian Idowu and Jamilu Collins would be on as wingbacks.
However, the preponderance of attackers in the squad list makes 4-3-3 conducive, as three forwards would be on, as against the other formation that would allow only two, and leave four lethal frontmen waiting for their time on the bench.
In Thursday’s training, Rohr had all the invited players for the session and it lasted close to two hours with several drills, formation and tactics ahead of the game on Saturday.
Chanchung Yatai of China striker Odion Ighalo proved his present goal scoring run in China is no fluke as he found the back of the net more times than any other forward, who took part in the session.
Henry Onyekuru was very lively and his pace and skills proved too much to handle for the defenders he was up against same as Samuel Kalu who looks certain to start on Saturday.
It is now left to be seen which of the two plausible formations Rohr will settle for, as the hours trickle by heading into Saturday’s 1:30pm kick-off of Stade Lanite, Victoria.
