ROHR GIVES OBAFEMI MARTINS WORLD CUP HOPE


Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has said he’s open to the idea of giving more players a chance to fight for a place in Nigeria’s World Cup 2018 squad.
Rohr’s side booked their place in next year’s tournament after finishing top of the qualifying group which also included Cameroun, Algeria and Zambia.
Despite their recent run, many insist the team needs strenghtening – and Obafemi Martins has been mentioned as one of the players who could bolster the squad.
Martins, 33, who plays for Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, has scored 16 goals in 39 appearances. He is third on Nigeria’s all-time scorers chart, with 18 goals in 41 outings.
Rohr said the former Inter Milan striker will be offered a chance to land a spot on Nigeria’s plane to Russia if he keeps on impressing at his club.
“Yes, the door is open to all our best players, including Martins. He is scoring a lot of goals and we need to get competition for all the positions, especially centre-forward,” the German told KweséESPN.
“For now, we have Kelechi [Iheanacho] who is playing not all the time. [But ] we played with Kelechi against Argentina and he did well.
“The Anthony [Nwakaeme] also did well against Algeria and [Odion] Ighalo, who is injured now, did very well against Cameroon. But we have also other players, like the young boy [Victor] Osimhen, and we have to look everywhere.
“We have a lot of opportunities for the strikers, and so Martins, if he is scoring goals, will be welcome.”

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