- Derek Cornelius returned from injury as Canada drew 2–2 with Iceland.
- Danny Rohl keeps Cornelius situation private amid reported Rangers rift.
- Future unclear at Rangers with defender now down the pecking order.
Out-of-favour Rangers defender Derek Cornelius made his return from injury on Saturday evening.
The 28-year-old came on as a substitute for Canada as they were held to a two each draw by Iceland.
It was the on-loan Marseille centre-back’s first outing since a win over Dundee in November.
He replaced Kamal Miller for the World Cup hosts’ final 15-minutes of action and was on the field as the Icelandic’s nabbed a late leveller.
Derek Cornelius out-of-favour at Ibrox
Rohl refused to go into detail over the reason for the defenders absence and chose to keep things private.
“All these things between Derek and me, it’s between us,” he explained.
“This is crucial. I have my principles.”
He did however leave the door open for a reprieve upon the defenders return from international duty.
This was despite his decision to allow Cornelius to leave to join up with Canada early.
“I had two conversations in the last couple of days with Derek,” Rohl revealed.
“I will have a conversation when he comes back then we will see which direction it goes.”
Canada boss causes chaos
Canada boss Jesse Marsch took responsibility for the rift ahead of their match with Iceland.
“Some of the conversation that I translated from one to the other got lost in translation,” he explained.
“This led to a situation that wasn’t advantageous for Derek or for the team.
“I tried to then revisit a conversation with Derek and Danny to get things moving in the right direction as smoothly as possible.”
Canada will face Tunisia on April 1 in what could be the defender’s first starting opportunity of the calendar year.
Read Rangers analysis
Whether it will be enough to convince Rohl he is worth a role in Rangers’ Premiership title run in remains to be seen.
He is now behind Nasser Djiga, Emmanuel Fernandez and John Souttar in the competition to start at the heart of Rangers defence.
