Nigeria national team coach Gernot Rohr has revealed LASK goalkeeper Tobias Lawal will not feature against Algeria on Friday due to a passport issue. The 20-year-old was born to a Nigerian father and Austrian mother which makes him eligible to feature for either of the countries. The goalkeeper has represented Austria at the U20 level but could still switch his allegiance to the West Africans.
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Lawal, who is currently in the Super Eagles camp, will, however, have to renounce his Austrian citizenship before he can be cleared to represent the three-time African champions. Rohr explains the necessary conditions have not been met and the goalkeeper will not play a part for his side against the Desert Foxes.
“You saw yesterday people from Nigeria’s embassy in Vienna were here and I asked them for the passport for Tobias Lawal, his father is Nigerian and his mother is Austrian, same like [Kevin] Akpoguma in Germany, it’s not the same situation unfortunately in Austria, they don’t give two passports, so if he has a Nigerian passport he must drop the Austrian passport.
“I spoke when we had lunch with the goalkeeper coach about him and Alloy [Agu] told me he has a big future, also for Maduka and also for the other goalkeepers, Uzoho will come back,” he continued.
“It’s interesting to see how they can work with four goalkeepers, three will be in the official list. Tobias Lawal, we have to check his passport.” Nigeria will take on Tunisia in another friendly on October 13 as part of their preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone in November.