The head coach of Belgium top division side Gent has voiced out his unhappiness over the invitation of Jordan Torunarigha to the Super Eagles team for the upcoming friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.
The former Germany youth international defender missed the club’s game in the Europa Conference League against Maccabi Tel-Aviv with a knock, although he is back in the team for Sunday’s league game against Genk.
Fresh from his first call up Torunarigha was included in the squad for the Super Eagles games on the 13th and 16th of October respectively in Portugal. He will be hoping to make his debut after sitting out the entire duration of the 6-0 win over Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo.
However his coach at Gent, Hein Vanhaezebrouck is unhappy that he was included despite the fact that he is just returning from a knock, and fears he could aggravate it while on duty with Nigeria.
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“You can forget that. They don’t take that into account because they also have to achieve their goals. If our players are among the better ones in their team selection, they will play. During friendly matches or youth tournaments, you can sometimes agree, as with Wesley Sonck, not to let someone play three matches”, he said.
“It’s more difficult when it comes to qualifying matches. It becomes especially annoying if someone has been hurt for a while but is still called up and then has to play again,” says Vanhaezebrouck. “That player (Torunarigha) is not paid by the federation and if we lose him and have him rehabilitated, it would be a shame if they call him anyway. Fairplay does not participate at FIFA or UEFA level. They advertise that, but it is actually not in their values and standards.”
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
