Super Eagles: Rohr's frontmen hitting form right in time for of 2018 FIFA World Cup

Moses, Ighalo, Musae finally hitting top gear ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Super Eagles boss Gernot Rohr was left with a slew of questions about his attack following Nigeria's two friendly games against Poland and Serbia in March.

Rohr’s men scored just one goal in the very cagey game against Poland, a penalty from Victor Moses and were totally shut out in the 2-0 loss to Serbia just days later.

Indeed, the signs were there and the German tactician should have seen it coming. Moses was shorn of confidence at Chelsea, Kelechi Iheanacho was not having game time, Odion Ighalo was rusty having just resumed the new season in China, Alex Iwobi was out of from while Ahmed Musa had just made his move back to Russia.

 

What these presented to Rohr was a disjointed attack, devoid of fluidity and penetration. Moses, however, was an exception, not for the execution but for effort. Against Poland, the Chelsea man drew the penalty which he converted himself for the game’s only goal.

In the almost two years Rohr has been in charge of the Super Eagles, the attack has been far from plug and play for the coach.

His defence has been defined by the ‘Oyinbo Wall’ partnership of Leon Balogun and William Troost-Ekong while the consistency of Wilfred Ndidi and Mikel John Obi have brought about the stability in midfield.

 

Aside Moses in his attack, Rohr seems unsure of his players yet.

It was clear he wanted a very young line-up of players in his attack when he first took over as Super Eagles with Iwobi and Iheanacho featuring prominently.

He even told Ighalo that he wanted to experiment more with the younger players, but Rohr recalled the striker after the shocking 2-0 home loss to South Africa in June 2017.

Ighalo has been impressive since his return, but Rohr has continued to experiment with the likes of Anthony Nwakaeme, Henry Onyekuru, Junior Ajayi and Gabriel Okechukwu.

After the two 1-0 win and the 2-0 loss to Poland and Serbia respectively, Rohr had every cause to worry about his attack.

But the development in recent weeks should ease his panic as almost all his attackers are hitting form just in time for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Moses, now brimming with confidence his back to his best in Chelsea’s right wing-back, scoring goals and making runs reminiscent of his form last season when he played a crucial part in a Premier League-winning campaign.

 

Musa is back in his comfort zone in Russia and has been scoring goals, Ighalo is scoring for fun in China while Iheanacho is showing enough at Leicester City.

''When you see what happened this weekend, Ighalo scored four goals, Musa scored two, Victor Moses scored one and had an assist, Kelechi played very well at Leicester, but didn’t score,'' Rohr told Monday Night Football on SuperSport.

 

''Alex Iwobi played also. So, I’m not pessimistic about this department. We have  Mikel Obi, who can give good balls and also score.

''I think we will be able to score some goals at the World Cup.''

Rohr has every right to be optimistic again about his attack, with these players hitting form just before the World Cup, his only worry should be how to make them play together and deliver for the Super Eagles.