Sports
By Benprince Ezeh
RECENTLY, the three-time African champions ‘Super Eagles’ have come under scrutiny over the performance of the team, especially during the current campaign for the 2022 FIFA World Cup where the team lost 0-1 to the low rated Central African Republic team in their first match in the two-legged qualifying match in Lagos. Although the Super Eagles later defeated the CAR team 2-0 in the second leg played in Cameroon. Another poor outing was recorded during the two matches with the national team of Cape Verde. The Super Eagles won 2-1 away in Cape and played a 1-1 draw in the second leg in Lagos. Despite qualifying for the knock-out stage of the qualifying series in 2022, some Nigerians are already calling for the replacement of the coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr.
Following the rumour on Thursday, November 18, that Rohr had been sacked by the NFF, there were mixed reactions with come Nigerians hailing the move while others cautioned that it would spell doom for the team which has the African Cup of Nations championship and the World Cup qualifying campaign to execute.
Reacting to the calls for the sack of Rohr, a former Super Eagles player, Victor Ikpeba, warned that the timing of such a change is faulty and that the NFF should allow the coach to take the team through the two outstanding tournaments – the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Speaking in a sports programme, Monday Night slot on DSTV, Ikpeba said that the performance of the team was a reflection of the poor state of the Nigerian Football League and crop of players in the Super Eagles. According to him, no member of the Super Eagles is presently playing in any of the elite clubs in Europe now and that some Nigerians were expecting too much from the team. Ikpeba, a former African footballer of the year also warned that sacking Rohr a few months before the 2021 AFCON would be a “disaster” and advised the NFF to learn from history.
“Why not wait till after the AFCON and take a decision on his future. It will be a disaster if that happens now. If you sack Rohr and employ another coach, if the team fails at the AFCON, who takes the blame?
“What will the new manager change? What changed in 2002 and in 2010? It was a disaster. This will happen again if Rohr is sacked now, “Ikpeba said.
But his fellow analyst on the programme, Segun Agbede, said that Rohr had not made any significant impact on the team and should be sacked. He lamented that the Rohr was not interested in the local league and had consistently failed to select players from the local league to play for the Super Eagles squad.
In the same vein, Yakubu Aiyegbeni another ex-Eagle described Rohr as the worst coach Nigeria has ever had.
Local media reports quoted Aiyegbeni as saying that some of the players invited by the coach were not worthy to wear the national team jersey.
“The coach is not good enough, no clue. Gernot Rohr is one of the worst coaches in our history. He is not good enough.
“The NFF should let him go. He is responsible for the poor form of the Super Eagles team.
“Our football is getting worse every day. When I was there, people criticised us, but we are way better than these ones,” he lamented.
Soccer journalist, Biodun Alabi, said that the loss to the Central African Republic, CAR was not pardonable.
“In recent history, the Eagles have had scandalous outings. A 2-0 loss to Madagascar at the last Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, a 4-4 home draw with Sierra Leone and the disgrace against one of Africa’s minnows, CAR. Even my 11-year-old son was shocked. I couldn’t provide him with explanations.
“But to blame entirely the current Eagles generation for this shame is to scratch the issue. Many of them don’t deserve to be in the team, but they didn’t force themselves in. The story of today’s Eagles adequately explains the trajectory of Nigerian football in the hands of government and occupiers of the Federation House over the years.
“It is more saddening that the current NFF act as though nothing is wrong. Their arrogance against admitting to a collateral disaster Nigerian football has become is nauseating. It has never been this bad.
“Even with a resounding win in the reverse leg in Cameroon, the blot has been etched. More of this experience will come if the real issues are still being glossed over,” he added.
In his intervention, Senator Orji Kalu, former governor of Abia State, said that Rohr was as good as his last game, and for not having any tactics in matches, he ought to be sacked.
“Gernot Rohr is not a motivator to the players because he has nothing to offer; I can even motivate the players more than him because I’m a super motivator of my players.
“He is not a coach. I don’t see anything good in him, he has no stamina, no strategy, he doesn’t play any system and his team doesn’t excite me,” he said.
According to Kalu, a local coach for the Super Eagles once is preferred and he should be paid well and allowed to do his job. “Where the coach comes from doesn’t matter. We have a lot of Nigerian coaches who if you pay them what is due to them, they will do the job well.
“We have a lot of coaches both locally and internationally, and I’m sure NFF President knows these people. If he is in doubt, he should consult me and I will tell him some names of coaches he can approach, whether local or international.
“If you ask me, I will prefer a Nigerian to coach the Super Eagles, but he should be paid well and given a schedule of international standard to operate,” he said.
Rohr was appointed head coach of the Super Eagles in August 2016 and led the team to a third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
He had previously coached Burkina Faso and Tunisia before his appointment by Nigeria. He took over from former Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Oliseh, who left the job months after his appointment, following a disagreement with the NFF.
Tags: 2022 FIFA World Cup Benprince Ezeh Gernot Rohr Super Eagles
