Tyronne
Ebuehi wished he played more in the World Cup where he was sidelined on
the bench in a competitive match he felt he could have added value to.
Tyronne Ebuehi
New Benfica right-back, Tyronne Ebuehi is reportedly unhappy with
Nigeria coach, Gernot Rohr for restriction to one match in the 2018
World Cup in Russia despite his form, a source has told a Punch
correspondent.
Ebuehi, who has a Nigerian father and a Dutch mother, pledged his
international future to Nigeria in 2017 after rejecting Rohr’s invite
to play in the Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifier against Algeria in Uyo
on December 11, 2016.
The 22-year-old Dutch-born, who is capable of playing at left-back
or right-back, was a constant threat down the right channel as he burst
into the final third when he came in for Brian Idowu in the 2-0 defeat
of Iceland at Volgograd Arena on June 22.
Many Nigerian fans were left fuming after Rohr ended the team’s 2-1
defeat by two-time world champions Argentina at the Saint Petersburg
Stadium on Tuesday – to tumble out of the tournament – with Ebuehi
idling away on the reserve bench.
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi ran Saint Petersburg-born
left-back Idowu ragged – and eventually scored a splendid goal
through the Amkar Perm star’s position after taking down a cracking
pass from the deep by Ever Banega before beating Nigeria goalkeeper
Francis Uzoho from a tight angle to open the scoring for Argentina.
But the 64-year-old German coach defended his decision, insisting Idowu deserved to end the encounter.
“Idowu was very solid in the team. He’s much better defensively
and did very well against Messi. He has experience and can play on both
sides of the flanks,” the former Bordeaux defence ace told reporters,
“Ebuehi is a fantastic player offensively. He played well
against Iceland but he is still very young and still learning. He will
definitely improve defensively and become a very important player for
the team in the future.”
A correspondent learnt Ebuehi allegedly boiled with anger as the
Eagles, who were in pole position to go through, continued to make
mistakes trying to defend deep and then hit the desperate Argies on the
counterattack, instead of taking the game to them.
Ebuehi, who joined Portuguese giants Benfica from Dutch club ADO
Den Haag in May, was visibly angry as he stormed out of the dressing
room into the Mixed Zone where he snubbed the journalists who requested
interviews with him after the match.
Sources also claimed that some of the players were not happy with
Rohr’s instructions to launch attacks when the match was tied at 1-1 in
the dying minutes, which was enough for them to go through as they
were tired.
La Albiceleste manager Jorge Sampaoli seized initiative by
replacing veteran holding midfielder Enzo Perez with in-demand Boca
Junior forward Cristian Pavon in the 62nd minute, and throwing out
sloppy PSG winger Angle Di Maria for rugged Independiente midfielder
Maximiliano Meza in the 73rd minute before sending on Sergio Aguero
for Nicolas Tagliafico in the 81st minute as they probed for the winner
to save his team from an embarrassing exit from Russia.
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