Dare, Rohr differ on Super Eagles
By Olalekan Okusan
The Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare has yet again questioned the competence of coach Gernot Rohr following the Super Eagles faint-hearted performance in the 2021 AFCON double header against Sierra Leone.
Penultimate Friday, the Eagles squandered their 4-0 lead to draw 4-4 against the Leone Stars in Benin and played out listless goalless draw on Tuesday at the Siaka Stevens Stadium against their host to the chagrin of most Nigerians.
An unimpressed Sport Minister yesterday followed with a tweet yesterday calling for an urgent action on the dwindling fortune of the national senior team.
“The performance of the Super Eagles from their last two matches calls to question the suitability and competences of Technical Adviser, Rohr. Nigerian football deserves better. The needful will be done. Apologies to all football lovers,” Dare said.
Yet the German tactician s not giving up on the AFCON ticket, saying that the team would confirm its slot at AFCON 2022 in Cameroun with their next match in 2021.
Speaking after the 0-0 draw against Sierra Leone on Tuesday, Rohr said: “It is long time since we had a goalless defence and we wanted to be solid especially after what happened in the second half in the first leg. I am happy for our goalkeeper who showed everybody that he is a good one. We have a young team, it was a shock the other day and after the injury of Victor Osimhen everybody was afraid and today they wanted to fight for him and they did it.”
However, the former Bayern Munich defender takes solace in the fact that, “Despite the draw we are still on top of our group and we have to play two more games against Benin Republic and Lesotho. Although it is not official but we are very close now to qualification.”
He admitted that there are no minnows in football considering the performance of Sierra Leone. “We saw the result of Benin who played a draw in Lesotho, All the games are difficult and there are no little opponents, everybody are all well-organised,” he added.