…No, he is not – Egbe
George Aluo
Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr, is at the moment the most discussed man in Nigerian football circles, no thanks to the recent poor run of his team.
Before this week’s two legged AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone, the Eagles also failed to impress in the international friendlies against Algeria and Tunisia in Austria.
To many Nigerian football stakeholders the nation’s soccer governing body, NFF should not have renewed Rohr’s contract which expired mid this year.
As things stand now, Rohr has a fresh mandate to qualify and lead Nigeria to the Cameroon 2021 AFCON as well as the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
However against the backdrop of the team’s recent poor run, many of those who opposed his being given a fresh contract have renewed calls for his sack.
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In any case, the Franco German tactician equally have admirers who believe he is not the problem of the team and as such should be given the needed support to deliver.
Ex international, Felix Owolabi, a staunch critic of Rohr is one of those who has written off Rohr.
Owolabi, a member of the 1980 Green Eagles squad that won the Nations Cup on home soil said Rohr is technically and tactically deficient and as such should be fired. Owolabi wonders why the coach is always experimenting instead of building a solid team.
“If after four years Rohr can’t give us a solid team, then he has nothing to offer. He has refused to look inwards, he doesn’t believe in our home based players. We can’t have a strong team without the home lads,” Owolabi stated.
Fan Ndubuoke, a veteran journalist not impressed with Rohr’s performance told The Nigerian Xpress Sports that Rohr is a “limited liability company with some Nigerians as share holders. This is why they are keeping him. Unfortunately, this is the way we roll in this part of the world,” Ndubuoke said.
Stadium facilities expert Ebi Egbe however disagrees with those who want Rohr sacked.
Egbe who is the CEO of Monimichelle said nobody should expect the Eagles to do well in a country where there a poor playing turfs.
“If we have a national team of home based players they will do well, but with this Overseas based players forget it. Our players are now used to fine turfs out there in Europe, so if we want to get the best out of them we must invest in good playing turfs with zero undulation. You can clearly see Rohr’s team play better when they play in Europe. We need to do proper analysis and know where our problem lies. I can tell you that Rohr is the not the problem of the team,” Egbe said.
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London based Nigerian sports journalist, Osasu Obayuwana is also not one of those that has joined the sack Rohr now bandwagon.
Obayuwana, a lawyer believes Rohr has done well if statistics and record are anything to go by.
“Rohr may not be the cup of tea for many people, but it’s my view that he has certainly not been a failure, based on his record in competitive games for the national team,” were Obayuwana’s words.
Sports minister Sunday Dare who opposed NFF’s decision to offer Rohr a new contract had before the Eagles return leg match against Sierra Leone said he was not going to say anything about Rohr until after the match which he insisted Eagles must win.
With Rohr and his wards only able to secure a draw in Freetown, it is not yet clear if Dare would still sit on the fence or mount pressure on NFF to get rid of the 66-year old coach.