Gernot Rohr’s biggest selection headache caused by the decision of Premier League clubs to stop players from red-list countries like Cape Verde will be who to deputise for his preferred defensive midfielders, Wilfred Ndidi (Leciester City) and Oghenkaro Etebo (Watford).
Rohr’s favoured formation is the 1-4-2-3-1,that means he plays two defensive midfield pivots and in recent times that combination has been Ndidi and Etebo.
It is therefore left to be seen how Rohr will go about executing the two World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape Verde next month, but he will most certainly have to work with a different set of players for the match in Cape Verde.
And so should Ndidi and Etebo play against Liberia in Lagos on September 3, they will not be available for the next qualifier in Cape Verde because their Premier League clubs have banned them from going there as part of the Coronavirus protocol.
Frank Onyeka, who would have been an option in defensive midfield, is also from the Premier League with Brentford and so he is also ruled out.
Alhassan Yusuf (Antwerp), Innocent Bonke (Malmo), Obinna Nwobodo (Goztepe) and Kelechi Nwakali (Huesca) are some of the names suggested as cover for the absentee Premier League stars.
