Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr has taken a philosophical approach in his bid to keep the job, as he opined that frequent changes of national team coaches has affected African countries on the global scene.
With many critics and insatiable fans already questioning Rohr’s continued stay in the Eagles’ saddle, following his inability to reach the World Cup round of 16, the Franco-German gaffer has taken a dramatic angle in his fight back.
Rohr was unable to equal the second round feat achieved by an indigenous coach, late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi with the Eagles at Brazil 2014, but the gaffer believes a longer spell in charge of national teams would help coaches do better across the continent.
He argued further that, apart from Nigeria, Africa’s other teams to Russia 2018, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt, all lost out to ill-luck, inconsistency and bad organisation.
Though Rohr hailed the performances of the African teams in their respective groups, he reckons they would have done better with continuity.
He is now looking ahead to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with hope that an African team can qualify to the semi-finals if they correct their errors of Russia 2018.
Nigeria’s next competitive match comes in September, when they play an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Seychelles, ahead of which Rohr, who signed a two-year contract extension last year, praised the mood within the Eagles’ camp.
Rohr said he wants to build on the gains of Russia 2018 and is keen to focus on two main areas for corrections, being slow starts and inexperience.
He said: “I think the future is for Nigeria because the spirit is wonderful, big solidarity and you see in these difficult moments how great the spirit the team is.
“What they learned is to be better in the beginning of the match. We reacted well in all three matches in the second half, so our start must be better.
“Also, we should have no complex now. We have seen that we can win against good teams like Iceland.
“We had some mistakes of youthfulness, like conceding penalties, but all the time the team is in this collective spirit and I like it.
“Generally, they are missing a better continuity, especially in technical staff. African teams missed luck and still have some problems with organisation.
“But, I foresee a situation in the next World Cup in Qatar that an African team may qualify to the semi-finals of the competition.
“All the problems I itemizes here prevented an African team sailing through to the second round of the ongoing World Cup in Russia.”
