With Nigeria’s infamous 4-4 draw against the Leone Stars still fresh in the memory, a Sierra Leonean player, Rodney Strasser has attributed his nation’s comeback to the substitution of Victor Osimhen. The Napoli marksman was substituted in the second half after sustaining a shoulder injury with Nigeria still leading.
In a conversation with OmaSports, Strasser admitted it wasn’t easy to match the Super Eagles and that the injury and subsequent withdrawal of Osimhen favored his country.
“I told the guys if we score 4-3 they’re gonna pee on their pants. When we scored 4-2 they came out and then 4-3 and I said we need to go and then it was good for us when Osimhen went out. It was good for us because he was the one that was keeping it up there. He was the troubled guy in the field, he alone can keep two or three players but when he went out it was better for us.”
Strasser further spoke on the condition of the pitch in Freetown and how it affected the second leg.
“We all normally win at home but we had a problem because our pitch wasn’t that good even for us because most of us play abroad, it wasn’t good for us also, not only for Nigeria, that’s what people don’t understand,”
“It was difficult for us because we only trained for just two days on the pitch. It was okay for the local players. We used two defenders based at home because our captain was disqualified and another player was on the bench, he plays in Greece. The home-based guys had less problem, two of our defenders and the goalkeeper were home-based, so those were comfortable on the pitch but the rest were professionals and it was a little difficult for us to play on the pitch. We went for the win, we had a couple of chances, Nigeria also had chances but it was like a normal game, a 50-50 because of the pitch.” he added.
