Gernot Rohr has made his reservations known about calling up new players for next month’s AFCON qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho. The Eagles will make the short trip to Benin on March 22 and then welcome Lesotho to Lagos on March 30 to conclude the qualifying campaign for the 2021 AFCON. They need at least a point from the two matches to advance to the final tournament in Cameroon next year. Rohr has already announced that he will announce his squad for the games by the end of the month, but he was cautious about calling up uncapped players because the time between the matches is too short to see these players in action. “The time between the two games is too short to really look at new players,” he commented. Rohr has hinted on calling up the likes of Union Berlin striker Taiwo Awoniy...
Taiwo Awoniyi hopes he will get the chance to play for the Super Eagles any time soon. Awoniyi has represented Nigeria at youth levels but he is yet to get the chance to play for the senior side. The forward has impressed on loan so far at Bundesliga club Union Berlin, with three goals and one assist in 10 league appearances. The 23-year-old is keen to maintain the impressive scoring form which he believes will help him gain recognition at international level. “The national team question for me is a big thing. I remember in the U17 and U20 days, the pride to wear the national colours is massive,” Awoniyi said. “I understand that the country has talents in abundance, But I also have to stick to my principle of time and season and continue to work hard. When it’s my time I’ll take the opport...
Anthony Ujah and his compatriot Suleiman Abdullahi were the score sheet as Union Berlin wrapped up their 2019/2020 German Bundesliga campaign with a 3-0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday. The victory helped Union Berlin to retain their place in the German Bundesliga for next season, despite enduring disappointing results for the most part of the campaign. Anthony Ujah gave Union Berlin lead in the 26th minute and it was his third Bundesliga goal of the season. Christian Gentner added the second in the 54th minute with a fantastic finish, before Suleiman Abdullahi wrapped up the three-point with another goal. The defeat sent Fortuna Düsseldorf to relegation playoffs, while Union Berlin completed the campaign in 12th position. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make M...
Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick says the absence of spectators for Tuesday’s top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash at Borussia Dortmund will be a “missing factor”. Reigning champions Bayern thrashed second-placed Dortmund 4-0 last November in front of 75,000 fans at the Allianz Arena. But the teams will meet again in Dortmund with the stands at Signal Iduna Park — usually packed with 82,000 people — empty after the Bundesliga became the first top European league to return, behind closed doors, following the coronavirus lockdown. “It is a very special game,” Flick said on Monday, with Bayern heading to Dortmund with a four-point lead. “As a coach, there is no question that the fans are a missing factor.” Ten of the 18 league games since the restart have been won by the away team. “The atmo...
Borussia Dortmund host Schalke 04 in Germany’s fiercest derby on Saturday but no more than 300 people will be in and around the 80,000 capacity arena due to COVID-19 restrictions as the Bundesliga gets back to business after a two-month break. The Bundesliga is the first major sports league to resume since world sport was brought to a standstill by the pandemic, and players will have to abide by a strict set of health guidelines aimed at minimizing the risk of infection. Fans will not be able to attend the matches as part of the safety regulations, leaving it up to the players to provide the spark for what are being called “ghost” games. “It will most certainly be the most unusual derby in history,” Dortmund’s head of pro players Sebastian Kehl said this week. “This game lives off fans, th...