Let’s be optimistic and prepare for AFCON – Rohr
Gernot Rohr is already looking forward to Nigeria’s outing at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament after qualifying Super Eagles to the next stage of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The coach who was satisfied with his wards’ performance after they were forced to a 1-1 draw at home by Cape Verde on Tuesday, said now they have enough time to prepare for the Nations Cup.
“Now we have to be optimistic as we have time to prepare for Afcon. Some of our players are coming back from injury, so let’s give them time, they will do better and better.”
Heading for the last Group C game against Bubista’s men, the three-time African champions knew that victory or a draw would power them into the third round.
Like a house on fire, the Super Eagles took an early lead through Napoli star Victor Osimhen in the first minute, while Stopira levelled matters four minutes later after profiting from an assist from Kenny Santos.
The intense fixture produced no other goals, and that result was enough to send the West Africans into the final round – where Africa’s representatives would be selected.
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For Rohr, the result against the Blue Sharks was like a triumph – stating that his men deserved to have scored at least another goal.
“First of all, sometimes, a draw can be like a victory. That was the case. Because we wanted to qualify, we knew that a draw is already qualification,” he told the media.
“It was not an easy game because Cape Verde have a good technical team and they scored a goal in a moment when we believed we had the match in the hands.
“We missed a lot of chances in the first half, and I think we deserved to score a second goal.
“That did not come, and we had to defend, and the players did it very well.”
The former Gabon and Burkina Faso tactician also opened up on the kind of advancement he wants in his team before the commencement of the third round.
“The improvement I want to see is for us to exploit the opportunities we have to score, to be more effective defensively and also play quicker from behind – it is still too slow from behind for me.
“Our central defenders still take much time to take the ball forward. So, we have to work on that.
“We have 13 points from six matches, it’s not a bad result – because we have two more points above the team that placed second [Cape Verde].