A lot has been said about the decision of coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr to pick Almeria Sadiq Umar ahead of Genk forward Paul Onuachu.
Onuachu is currently in the running for the European Golden Shoe award with 25 goals in 29 matches making him the top scorer in Belgium top division and one of the best in the Europe.
On the other hand Sadiq has scored 14 goals this season for promotion chasing Spanish second division side Almeria although he did score 6 before leaving Serbian side Partizan Belgrade in the summer.
Both players were named by Rohr but while Sadiq goes into the main list, Onuachu was placed as standby alongside seven others for the AFCON 2022 qualifiers games against Benin Republic and Lesotho respectively.
The decision hasn’t gone down well with a lot of football followers in Nigeria but according to a member of the back room staff of the coach, it’s about giving Sadiq a chance as a reward for his fine form the past 18 months.
“ You see Onuachu and Sadiq are very similar in size and style. They have that bean pole physique that Rohr has been looking for. It was on that basis that Simy Nwankwo made the squad for the World Cup in Russia”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.
“ Simy didn’t take his chance after making an initial impression. Pre World Cup, World Cup and even post World Cup he wasn’t giving Rohr what we thought he would. Hence the decision to go for a similar striker in Onuachu. Who was playing in Denmark then.
“ In his first game, he not only scored but held the ball up nicely, something the team lacks at that time making him the first choice striker going into AFCON 2019. He started the first game ahead of Odion Ighalo and he disappointed. That was how he lost his spot.
“ Ighalo ended up as top scorer at the tournament and Osimhen moved from third choice to first choice on the strength of his performance for Lille and the subsequent national team games. That’s how Onuachu became second choice”, he explained.
“ Now back to Sadiq and Onuachu. One has had several chances and didn’t take it and there is no international break before the World Cup qualifiers begin, so it’s only normal we try Sadiq. It’s about bringing in players who will add something different to the team”.