Super Eagles boss Rohr includes ‘special player’ Ighalo in World Cup qualifying squad

The head coach of Nigeria’s national football team Gernot Rohr says he has included Odion Ighalo in the 40-man provisional squad for the Super Eagles World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape Verde next month because he’s a “special player.”

Ighalo, 32, quit the Super Eagles after finishing top scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and previously resisted pressure from coach Gernot Rohr to reverse his decision, saying he wants to “concentrate on club football and give the younger players a chance to learn and grow.”

However, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick and head coach Rohr recently called on Ighalo to return to the Super Eagles for Nigeria’s upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Rohr speaking with ElegbeteTV said: “Ighalo is a very important man, I hope he can come back. I put him on the 40-man provisional list for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, we are in touch.

“He’s doing really well at his club and he still has the ambition to help his country. We have so many good strikers like [Taiwo] Awoniyi, [Terem] Moffi, [Paul] Onuachu and [Victor] Osimhen, but we don’t have anyone like Ighalo.

“Ighalo is different. He’s a special player, he sees everything. Our team now misses maturity and experience and this is where he could help us, because we miss his leadership, his experience and the goals he scored.

“He was the top scorer in the last AFCON and the qualifiers. I think we have so many young players, but they could learn a lot from the side of such a good player.”

Ighalo – former striker with Manchester United and Watford – plays for Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia, and has scored nine times in ten league games for the club – who are second in the Saudi Pro League – this season.

Super Eagles will face Liberia on November 13 before hosting Cape Verde three days later as they push to book a place in the final phase of qualification for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.