Rohr under pressure to include Kelechi Nwakali in his World Cup squad after his scintillating display yesterday

ARSENAL playmaker Kelechi Nwakali may become a last minute addition to Nigeria's World Cup squad after he put in a scintillating performance for the Super eagles B team in a friendly match against Atletico Madrid last night.

Nwakali, 19, is a mercurial playmaker in the mould of Jay Jay Okocha and Mikel Obi and offers the Super eagles a unique kind of creativity which the team currently lacks. After being voted the most valuable player at the U17 World Cup in 2015, he was signed by Arsenal but has since been loaned out to several clubs in Holland.

Yesterday, Nwakali, who was surprisingly omitted from Nigeria's 30-man World Cup provisional list, featured for the Super eagles B team in a friendly against Atletico Madrid in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. Although the Eagles lost the game 2-3, Nwakali distinguished himself with a man-of-the-match performance and a wonder solo goal, that has raised question marks about why he is not going to Russia.

Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr was in the crowd watching the game and may now be forced to include the player in his squad as the clamour for his inclusion in the team grows. Fifa rules dictate that a player not on the provisional list can be included if one of those already named suffers an injury ruling him out of the tournament.

Any such replacement can be added to the squad 24 hours before the first game of the tournament which starts on June 14. Nigeria's first game will take place on June 16 against Croatia, so Mr Rohr still has the opportunity to call the player up should he need to.

Yesterday, Nwakali opened the scores in the 34th minute with a wondergoal and his overall play was impressive as he linked up well with his teammates including his older brother Chidiebere. Speaking after the game, Nwakali, who spent last season on loan to Dutch sides VVV Venlo and MVV Maastricht, said his inclusion in the squad rest on coach Rohr.

Nwakali added: “Scoring against the European champions was a thing of joy and we thank God for the moment. I’m not the one to decide if I go to the World Cup.

"The coach has to decide. We have quality players to defend Nigeria.”

Apart from the Nwakali brothers, other players who distinguished themselves yesterday included skipper and rightback Musa Mohammed, Ebube Duru and the other goalscorer Usman Mohammed. Last night's performance raised question marks about Mr Rohr's original list of 30 as it did not include potential match winners like Nwakali, Abdul Ajagun, Henry Onyekuru and Brown Ideye.