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 our 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.
Tyronne Ebuehi
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.”
Our 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.