TheCable

Dosu Joseph, former Super Eagles goalkeeper, says Paul Onuachu deserves to be on Gernot Rohr’s 24-man squad for this month’s AFCON 2021 qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho.

The Atlanta Olympic gold medallist expressed his shock about Onuachu’s exclusion when he spoke with TheCable on Tuesday — shortly after the list was released.

According to Dosu, the forward, who plays for Genk, Belgian club, is the “best striker Nigeria has got at the moment.”

The 26-year-old has been churning out superlative performance week in and out for Genk this season.

Dosu, however, wondered why a player who has scored 25 goals in 29 appearances was only good enough for the standby list.

“That young man has been doing very well for Genk in Belgium. He is the best striker we have right now. I think he should be among one of the highest goal scorer in Europe right now,” he told TheCable.

“But I think for him [Rohr] to have left Paul Onuachu out, that is a surprise.

“If leaving our highest goal scorer out, it means there’s a problem somewhere. To me, I think he should have invited Paul into the team.

“The question to be asked is the pattern of play of the technic crew. If the pattern of play is wrong from what he plays in his club.

“There was a time Westerhof played to the strength of Daniel Amokachi. Joe Bonfrere also played to the strength of Amokachi. We played 4-3-3 but since other coaches came into the fray, they changed the pattern of play of the team.

“Paul Onuachu is a lone man striker. Allow him to be the front player there and feed him the balls to deliver. And that is what he is playing for his club.

“But here, we want a player that we come to the back, collect the ball, play with the team. He doesn’t have that strength. But let us play to the power of the players we have, that is when you will see the best of them. Paul is definitely supposed to be in that team.”

He, however, believed Ahmed Musa’s inclusion despite being club less will do the team good in both games.

The 28-year-old became a free agent when he parted ways with Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia club, in October.

“I believe Musa’s leadership quality is needed in the team in other to achieve the common goal of qualifying for the AFCON,” Dosu added.

AHMED MUSA’S PRESENCE WILL HELP THE TEAM, SAYS IKE SHORUNMU

On his part, Ike Shorunmu, another former Super Eagles shot-stopper, told TheCable that Musa’s leadership prowess and influence will help the team in this month’s AFCON qualifiers.

“The experience that Musa has gathered over the years and his contributions to the team, the coach believe being his captain, he will be needed to help the team tremendously in the two qualifiers,” he said.

“He [Rohr] might not play Musa in the two matches but his presence will help the team.”

Reacting to Onuachu’s exclusion from the 24-man squad, Shorunmu said: “There’s lot of talk on Onuachu’s past performance with the team. He has not been performing. That may be the reason for his exclusion.”