Watford's Emmanuel Dennis could be called up for African Nations Cup following Rohr's sacking

WATFORD striker Emmanuel Dennis's chances of leading the Super Eagles attack at the forthcoming African Cup of Nations kicking off next month have increased dramatically following the sacking of head coach Gernot Rohr.

Last month, Nigeria limped into the final qualification round of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after an unimpressive 1-1 draw with Cape Verde at home. This shoddy performance was the last straw for many Super Eagles fans who among other seen witnessed their team suffer a 0-1 humiliating loss at home to lowly Central African Republic.

With the final round of qualification involving a two-legged knock out tie against much sterner opposition in February, NFF officials were wary of leaving Mr Rohr in charge. Nigeria will either face Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt, Dr Congo or Mali in the final round and to avoid an embarrassing defeat, Mr Rohr was sacked this week and former manager Austin Eguavoen was placed in temporary charge of the team.

Mr Eguavoen will take the team to the African Cup of Nations starting in January and with regular striker Victor Osimhen out injured, one of his first tasks will be to find a replacement. Under Rohr, Dennis barely got a look in despite his good form with Watford but this mat all change dramatically.

Since his arrival at Vicarage Road,  at the start of the season, Dennis has scored seven Premier League goals but was still ignored for all recent international breaks. He has not played for Nigeria since November 2020 when he was given a six minute cameo when he came off the bench in the second half against Sierra Leone.

Just over a week ago, that did not look like changing as Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho and Paul Onuachu were all ahead of Dennis in the pecking order under Rohr. While it remains to be seen if the Watford man will now be selected, his chances have undoubtedly at least changed.

Should Dennis end up travelling to Cameroon for the tournament it would be a big blow to the Hornets who would have to prepare to be without their top scorer this season until at least the end of the group stage. Watford are already likely to lose the likes of Imran Louza, William Troost-Ekong and possibly Adam Masina, should he be back from his injury in time, although Ismaila Sarr is looking increasingly unlikely to be available for the tournament due to his knee problem.