Use available players to play Mexico, Lawal tells Rohr

Former Nigerian midfielder Garba Lawal has urged Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr to use players that are at his disposal and not complain of the timing of the International friendly against Mexico.

The friendly games in June (against Cameroon) and July (Mexico) have been arranged to prepare the team for the rescheduled 2022 World Cup qualifying matches in September.

The game against Mexico will be the sixth encounter between the two nations at senior level, four of which have ended in draws.

The only win has gone to Mexico, when they triumphed 2-1 in a US Gold Cup encounter in Texas) on 24 June 1995.

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However, on Thursday, the German tactician lamented that the game’s timing would not enable him to count on the services of his first-team players.

Reacting to Rohr’s comment, ‘Chindo’ as he was fondly called during his playing days with the senior national team, told Soccernet.ng that he should use the opportunity to invite some of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) players for the Mexico game.

“I really don’t expect Rohr to be complaining about the timing of the Super Eagles friendly game against Mexico because the NFF have done their best to organise a grade ‘A’ game for the team,” Lawal told Soccernet.

“Yes, some of the foreign-based players will be busy with their respective clubs for the pre-season games.”

“However, that is not enough to complain about the timing.”

“You can always select players from the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) to replace players that will be missing for the game,” he concluded.