MORELOS TO MISS COLOMBIA CALL DUE TO COVID RULE
NEW Colombia manager Reinaldo Rueda has revealed he won’t be able to call up Alfredo Morelos for their opening World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Paraguay next month. The Rangers striker would normally be a certainty in the squad for Rueda — who took over from Carlos Queiroz last month — for the opening Qatar 2022 qualifiers. But Morelos is one of a host of UK-based players who are extremely unlikely to be available for the matches after FIFA agreed that clubs would not have to release players where there is a mandatory quarantine period of five days or more on return to their club. Morelos, along with Everton’s James Rodriguez and Yerry Mina and Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez will all have to miss ties against Brazil and Paraguay. And 63-year-old Rueda — who is in his second spell in charge of Colombia — admitted he has already made alternative plans. He said: ‘I have been having constant communication with all the players in the UK and they are all aware that of course, I want them in this squad for the start of the World Cup qualifiers. ‘Sadly, because of the Covid measures taken by governments, there is very little we can do about getting them over here for the two matches. ‘We all know this is happening and, accordingly, we have made plans to call up other players and that’s why we held a camp this month with locally-based players.’ Morelos’ Ibrox team-mates Joe Aribo and Leon Balogun, meanwhile, appear to be set for international action with Nigeria. The Super Eagles are in action next month in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in a double-header away to Benin and at home to Lesotho. Nigeria will play in their capital city Lagos for the first time in over a decade and manager Gernot Rohr has insisted he’s desperate to include Aribo and Balogun for the matches, saying: ‘We are playing in Lagos for the first time in a very long time. I am very excited for the players. We have players like Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo, who were born in Europe and have never seen Lagos.’