The Guild of Sports Editors of Nigeria, the umbrella body of all managers of sports sections of major Nigerian newspapers and broadcast houses, has expressed shock over Super Eagles’ poor outing in a Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier against Central African Republic.
The body described the loss as emotional torture, adding that the senior national team has been toying with Nigerians’ emotions for so long.
Against all predictions, Central African Republic defeated Nigeria 1-0 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Thursday, putting to question Super Eagles’ chances of qualifying for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
The loss in Lagos was Nigeria’s first defeat in a World Cup qualifier in Lagos in over 40 years and also the country’s first against one of the least ranked teams in world football.
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There are 90 spots between the 34th Super Eagles and 124th ranked Central African Republic.
In a statement on Friday, the Guild’s President, Tony Ubani, described Thursday’s performance by the Eagles as the lowest he has seen the senior national team since Angola held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw on the way to the Germany 2006 World Cup, adding that if drastic action was not taken, the country could miss the 2022 edition of the Mundial.
He added: “The Super Eagles have been toying with Nigerians’ emotions for so long, but what happened on Thursday is unprecedented in the history of Nigerian football.
“The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) must find a way of arresting the slide before the next game in Cameroun.
“This was how the Eagles behaved until they missed the 2006 World Cup. Nigerians don’t easily forget. Nobody should feel he is untouchable because history teaches us otherwise.”
Ubani, who said Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr, seems to have abandoned his primary duties and embraced Nigerian football politics, warned that the country has so much to lose if it failed to qualify for the World Cup.
“Rohr has been with the Super Eagles for more than five years, but there is nothing to show for it. What he does is travel all around the world in search of players whose names sound Nigerian and bring them to play for the country. Any serious football fan can do that even without leaving the comfort of his sitting room.
“If the team has grown bigger than him, he should resign honourably instead of subjecting Nigerians to emotional torture.
“Cape Verde and Central African Republic have four points each, while Nigeria has six. If the Eagles fail to beat Central African Republic on Sunday and Cape Verde beats Liberia, the Super Eagles’ fate will no longer be in their hands. A stitch in time saves nine.”
The Super Eagles will play their fourth game of the World Cup qualifying series against Central African Republic in Douala, Cameroun on Sunday while Cape Verde will meet Liberia.
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COMMENTS
The only solution to the underlying problems being experienced by our national team (super eagles) is to get rid of this incompetent coach.the problem of super eagles include having an incompetent coach . His rigid and outdated coaching techniques cannot carry us anywhere. From frendly matches such as matches we played against Algeria and Cameroon to competitive matches against serria lone, Madagascar and central Africa republic this coach has showned his incompetence. Poor substitution, failure to scout for creative midfielders and rigid and outdated tactics are the hallmark of rohr. Get rid of this coach and dissolve the board of nfa.
While, i am not holding brief for Rorh in any way, bros please can you suggest or drop the name of any creative midfielder Nigeria has at the moment. Pls don’t go mentioning names of players whose hearts, minds, bodies and soul are not with Nigeria. Thanks in advance
Kelechi nwakali of huesca in Spain. He was instrumental in his team victory over real sociedad recently. He plays in spanish division 2 just like omeruo who was outstanding against cape Verde and was on the bench when we played car. The other players that ought to be given opportunity to fight for shirt include azubike okechukwu of sivasspor in Turkey and ovie ejuria . The problem with rohr is that even if he invites these players he cannot accommodate them in his system . He believes that you can only rely on wingers like simon and kalu .a good coach is flexible. Being unpredictable is an asset at times. He rigid and has his own players.
Guys, we Nigerians love to build castles in the air sha. For the avoidance of doubt and to be super duper sure, i just did another search if i can see any clips or whatsoever of Kelechi Nwakali’s supposed recent exploits with CD Huesca (mind you i religiously follow him every week to see if he is on the line up or on the bench) but all the vids i see are vids from u-17, loan spell at MVV Holland etc plus every time i look him up it is either he is getting hauled off at half time or rooted to the bench. What does that tell you(that he’s not at the level we all saw of him at U-17). I know also that Azu is on loan to Sivaspor in the Turkish league from another Turkish club, that actually speaks volume, loan from a club in Turkey to a club in Turkey. Abeg make we no dey deceive ourselves, as much as i think and believe Rorh is beginning to loose grip of this SE team, i also want us to know that one of the biggest issues with the construct of the team right now is still that creative spark which based off on what is available to us atm in terms of ready resource to pull from, me i never see any candidate except for the Obinna Nwobodo guy that we have not tried which i think should be tested for all the noise about him. You mentioned Ovie Ejaria (you cannot blame the coach for not inviting him as you don’t even know the nationality switch status yet. Abeg make una cool down oo, Rorh no be God wey go manufacture or create AM with sauce for us ooo. Personally, i am a Rorh fan simply bcos of where he brought us from but lately, he hasn’t actually covered himself in glory.
Sports editirs please note: There is no room for racism and colorism in Nigerian football
Nigerias can never learn history. If you sack this coach at this point in time of world Cup qualifying, who are you going to employ? This coach is doing well, is not all the time you win matches. Life is ups and down. This is how Nigerias say Jonathan is not good enough but today buhari Don show everybody pape. If we Sach rohr this period, 9ja will find it difficult to qualify
Some of you have been backing this coach for many years now i think it is time you guys put Nigeria above this whiteman’s interest. Bonfere Jo was westahof’s deputy when we won the first Afcon outside Nigeria in 1994 and they went on to qualify us for the World cup same year . Bonfere became our coach when westerhof left and in 1996 he led our U23 to win the first Olympic Gold medal not just for Nigeria but the whole of Africa, yet he was sacked in the middle of the World cup qualifiers of 2002 and the team was handed over to the late Amodu Shuaibu assisted by the late Stephen Keshi, Amodu went on to qualify Nigeria for the World cup of that year. So this claim the if we sack him now we might not find a suitable replacement does not hold water. Rohr came in through the back door, a former coach of lowly Niger who was desperate so our football administrators found him suitable for their plans and as such forgot about all the high flying coaches they had interviewed during a well published screening. Rohr has nothing to prove anymore he showed us all at the last World cup and Afcon that he lacks the capacity to handle the Super Eagles. The problem of the team is not lack of talented players but the ineptitude of our coach who has failed woefully to create a killer squad out of all our boys after FIVE SOLID YEARS.
What a shame! Nigerians have never had it so bad, beaten by Madagascar in the last African nations Cup, and now by Central African Republic. Nigeria Super Eagles now struggle to beat nations as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cape Verde, Madagascar, and other least rated African Football playing nations who were hitherto not in Nigeria`s category in the world of Football.
Nigeria is now destroyed and relegated- Women Football, Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles silenced altogether. Athletics, Boxing, Table Tennis, Discus, Javelin, Swimming, Lawn Tennis etc all gone!! Economy, Agriculture, Education, Healthcare System, Aviation, Security, Unity all gone!!!. So, What is left of Nigeria?
I am glad that these patriotic Nigerians are waking up to heed my sorrowful call to carry “placards” yesterday to sack and/ or fire this toothless coach called Rohr. l weep for Nigeria and l will continue to do so until this stupid coach is fired from the Nigeria shore. Join Omo9ja,and all Nigerian people, come out to say SACK! SACK!! SACK111 SACK the white coach today today. Shout with all your God-given strength and at the top of your lung for this coach to go home. Sack the NNF. Sack Buhari too. Sack all those who inflicted these pain on the 200 million Nigerian people.
Kelechi nwakali of huesca in Spain. He was instrumental in his team victory over real sociedad recently. He plays in spanish division 2 just like omeruo who was outstanding against cape Verde and was on the bench when we played car. The other players that ought to be given opportunity to fight for shirt include azubike okechukwu of sivasspor in Turkey and ovie ejuria . The problem with rohr is that even if he invites these players he cannot accommodate them in his system . He believes that you can only rely on wingers like simon and kalu .a good coach is flexible. Being unpredictable is an asset at times. He is rigid and has his own players.
@Patrick, please go and get your facts right before feeding us with lies just to push your agenda thru.
Currently HUESCA is in La Liga 2 while Real Sociedad is joint top leaders in La Liga 1 (tied on 17 points with Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid) so how did they meet recently for Huesca to beat Real Sociedad???
The only time Huesca has ever beaten Real Sociedad was on 1st May 2021 when Huesca was still in La Liga 1 before their relegation, and Nwakali was not in HUESCA at that time as he was shipped out on loan to La LIGA 2 team in the 2nd half of last season.
You guys love a player’s performance in the U17 and believe he is still a top performer as he was 6 years ago, what significant contribution has Nwakali made to club and country since 2016? They couldn’t even qualify for 2017 U20 WC with Nwakali as Captain, he also failed woefully when he Captained U23 Olympic team who crashed out in the Africa Qualifying Tournaments and couldn’t qualify for the Olympics 2020.
At club level, he was shipped out of Arsenal as he couldn’t graduate from the youth set up, made no mark at Porto B, not useful at Huesca and you believe he is our Messiah for the Super Eagles? Please stop that thing you are smoking fast now
No ooh we should keep waiting to be bundled out of the first round of the world cup AGAIN in Qatar or better yet miss out on the event all together before we realize Rohr is not the man for the job moving forward. He has done excellently well in bringing in foreign born players to come and play for Nigeria but it stops there. He has been on the job since 2015 and we have not won a single thing. We have not even conquered our own backyard talk less of the World. Rohr supporters will argue well he has qualified us for tournaments that we weren’t qualifying for before he arrived. So is that the bar that was set for him when he was hired??? Just qualify us, even if we lose all of our group matches and get eliminated early we will be fine as long as we qualified???? Rohr has only survived this long because of the amount of footballing talent we have. But as we can see looking smart and actually being smart are two different things. Because his Tactical ineptitude is showing more clearer each day. We are about 1 year away from the World cup tournament, I say relieve him of his duties now and put in an interim maybe a joseph yobo a former player, or maybe call up Amunike who did an excellent job with the U-20s when he was in charge or bring back SiaSia. Because I believe tactically, anyone else would be far better than Rohr.
Rohr Rohr Rohr yen yen yen. In fact I don’t understand what those his assistants are doing common tactical input I don’t see. They will just sit down . Please get this man sound technical assistant. Sia sia got one . Westernhof also did. Daddy Rohr tell NFF you need one too, if they can’t arrange. Biko
You are mad
So is a sin for been on a job for long time? Don’t know why some of you talk like this simply because of hatred or nepotism? Who told Nigeria or any Africa country is ready to win world cup? Those last time non of African countries scale to second round. How has football been before this man came self? Don’t even surprised, that is how one Godwin Enakhena of Lagos TV was tabbing this morning as if Rohr collect his wife. That man has always been personal with Rohr matter something must happened between him and Rohr. He doesn’t give them chance to do business hence reason for their incessant attack on him
Lol…Some of you are actually worse than these white racists we all criticize. Nonsense…..go and sack him now….rubbish. E ma gbenu were e mama soso kuso. Talking about emotions as if you are designed to win all games …….Is Nigeria Brazil or Argentina, that you think you should never lose to any team. How you guys build that illusion is what I don’t understand.
BTW, the coach has absolutely no fault in that lost….You should ask the attackers why they blew all the chances they had in that game. I’m sure those guys know they have themselves to blame and I’m sure they will come will back stronger in Douala. It was not just their day, and that’s okay.
Another record added to Roar’s tenure:
” Nigeria’s first defeat in a World Cup qualifier in Lagos in over 40 years ”
Other records:
First SE team without a win in a year (2020)
First SE loss to Cameroon in normal duration in 32 years
First SE team to loose a 4 goal lead..
All these records were created within a year. That tells much about the deterioration in technical capacity of Roar.
I hope these shameful records end here..
That’s your problem…..you are a Nigerian, keep the negativity locker, and make frames of those records. I don’t know what it is with you all….mtchwww
Sports Editors must have the intelligence to understsnd that players and coaches perform better when salaries and allowances are paid without blackmail
Lol…Some of you are actually worse than these white racists we all criticize. Nonsense…..go and sack him now….rubbish. E ma gbenu were e mama soso kuso. Talking about emotions as if you are designed to win all games …….Is super eagle, Brazil, or Argentina national teams, that you think you should never lose to any team. How you guys built that lake of illusions is what I don’t understand. Abi, from inception, what else have won in global football aside from the Olympics gold medal? This world cup we are talking about, even at our best, how far did we go…enh?. E ma calm down segbo, We didn’t invent football and we are not currently even the best in the continent.
BTW, the coach has absolutely no fault in that lost….You should ask the attackers why they blew all the chances they had in that game. I’m sure those guys know they have themselves to blame and I’m sure they will come will back stronger in Douala. It was not just their day, and that’s okay.
These Sports Editors are introducing racism and colour of skin into Nigerian football. They’re so poorly educated and primitive guys scavenging for brown envelopes.
I agree with Patrick 99.9percent.
Rohr seems rigid and a bit outdated in style. Infact, he hardly try to utilize other options especially in terms of players with proven natural abilities that I wonder if he would only consider doing so only wen they got old. If not, why is it hard for him to call players like ovie ejaria of reading fc and kelechi nwakali to fix the problem of lack of creativity in our midfield rather he would only invite defensive minded midfielders nd that’s why we would continue to have problem in dat department.
Another example of his rigid approach or tactical deficiency is his inability to have fashioned a special role for the most skillful and arguable the sharpest player in the group, Chidera Ejuke to improve the team’s games more. In other countries like Brazil(Neymar),Argentina (Messi), e tal, rare talents like that are given free roles in their teams to be covering almost everywhere on the pitch at any particular time bt the reverse has always been the case in Nigeria. He must also try to use Tyrone Ebuehi in our RB (he,to me is a better player than Aina. Just forget their clubs), trust Omeruah and Awaziem the more and also try Calvin Bassey who is another serious baller with enof flair and drive at the LB position.
I just hope he listens. He is not entirely a bad coach anyway.
Goodluck to Geret Rhor! Goodluck to the Super Eagkes!
I am not one of the Oga Rohr’s fans after he had shown his technical deficiencies and was overwhelmed at the last World Cup and tutored by an Algerian local coach Belmadi at the last Afcon (till date Belmadi never stopped to teach our so called foreign technical adviser the basics football coaching skills) .
His shameful bronze medal achievements by Nigerian standard but positive on his CV have clearly sent enough signal that Oga Rohr has nothing to offer super eagles ( even his business partner NFF are well aware , otherwise, they wouldn’t have embarrassingly recommended him to go for immediate refresher training after his bellowed performance in a tournament that a local coaches have won gold & sliver in the past let alone bronze that no one has ever celebrated ( that alone , is a clear statement of vote of no confidence on Oga Rohr , could any employer embarrassed the likes of Jose Morhino , Pep etc like that ? ) in my profession, we also played such last card , rather than sacking a poorly performed personnel , or waiting for the regular or biannual recurrent training, such employee is recommended for immediate corrective training as there is no parking in the sky .
NFF really knows what they are doing, never for once pretended to have intentions to move Nigerian football forward, otherwise, would they have employed a coach that has never won even a tea cup in his coaching career , a coach that the likes of a lowly Afrcan counties like Niger have all sacked and evaluated him not to have technical capacity to handle their football teams.
I am definitely against sacking Rohr , doing so will cost Nigerian outrageous compensation that will be killing ( NFF had fraudulently inserted that in his contract clause ) .
My opinion is let us retain Oga Rohr until his contract expires, engaged stand-in sounds local coach like Amunike that will be in charge of the team while Oga Rohr will be in charge of management of the team until his contract expires or he voluntarily resigned, which I doubt .
The players should be told to take their destiny into their hands as professionals they are and beat the CAR silly in their home ground.
As for those that are asking where can we get creative midfield players; I am sorry, that is why Rohr was employed, if he cannot get one after more than 5 years as many have done in the past with less years in charge , then he has no moral right not to voluntarily resign
If your amunike tin god was that good, one would have expected him to get a coaching job at least somewhere in africa to prove his mettle as a good coach qualified to coach the super eagles after his short stint with tanzania but surprisingly and sadly, he’s been jobless ever since, even demoted from his initial position in Egypt to a lower cadre level to handle under aged kids. In your own “wisdom”, this is the kind of person you want the eagles to be handed over to after rohr is gone. Common sense they say is not really common .
I wonder why this rubbish was not written when he won matches. They could have written it when he won an away game against a very strong side when everyone expected at least a draw. They should direct this rubbish to mr president and Dare who are the real people toying with the emotions of millions of nigerians. Just a slip and everybody has begun fidgeting like epileptic idiots. Nonsense.
The question is: Can’t our coach read matches? In that match, we do not have business using high balls knowing fully well car defenders are tall. We don’t have creative midfielders that can dribble and open up any water tight defence. Again, in our next match on Sunday, we should use wingers like chukwueze that can hug the line as this will put pressure on car and break down there defence.
Where is Chukwueze? Alot of you folks don’t keep up with Nigerian players or news pertaining to Nigerian football. You just tune in when there is a match and ask stupid questions or stupid comments with out following the team to know who is injured or important news leading up to games.
Doctors are on strike in Nigeria because of poor pay. The football manager Gernot Rohr is working without pay for 8 months!! And we expect him to perform wonders. Nigerians are irrational technical illiterates
Oga Rohr, Pls honorably resign.You Lack basic technical knowledge of the game of football.SE have have lost their wings to fly.Its all gone, Nigeria, what a shame.
All the fo9tball and sports administrators must all be relieved of the posts. All I hear of are coaches not getting paid while their own salaries and allowances go on smoothly. All I see are bad pitches for your own players to play on and you expect results. How dare you expect results when you have not provided the resources to do so. Corruption is now having this country on his knees.
Anyone still supporting or defending rohr or amaju; at the expense of our players; is either brain dead, mad or is paid to muddy the water. Either that person is the really enemy of Nigeria, or they’re doing it for bread – none of which is acceptable under normal circumstance, both of which deserves condemnation and pity at the same time.
The famous “Hand of Esau, but the voice of Jacob.”
Lol…… I tell u. Shame on that idiot!
Your fada na the real idiot.
Exactly
Hahahaha…..can you see how stupid you are….. LMAOOO. Even without me commenting the forum knows you are just as senseless as you have ever been….LMAO.
You’ve switched from Kel after you were roundly disgraced and now back to Dr.Drey…..LMAOoo.
Stupidity is trying to impersonate a person you have zero similarities with….. LMAOooo.
You are a true definition of that…… LMAOoo. Forumiyes can even smell your stupidity from a thousand miles away…. LMAOooo
I’ve told you before…..you will get neither the attention nor the recognition you are craving ….. LMAOoo. Samm samm.
Did you guys pay them, bunch fools complaining, you fools should be doing investigative journalism about corruption in NFF, worthless country
Rohr’s and this team has ran out of luck and ideas they must either fight or lay down, Sunday would tell.
Hahahaha….sport writers….Rohr is toying with your emotions….???? LMAOOO. So y’all now know what it feels like to be owed 8 months salaries and 2 years bonuses…… LMAOOOO.
NFF has been toying with Rohr and the players emotions since 2019. He just paid you all back with one loss that hasn’t threatened our position on the table and you guys are crying….. LMAOoo. Wait till he looses his next tree matches and send our FIFA rankings tumbling back to 70th in the world……na that time is go see real emotions….. LMAOOOO.
Incase none of you has ever been owed the way Rohr consistently gets owed in such an alarming proportion, they way y’all felt on Thursday night when you were about going to be is way he has been feeling since 2019. LMAOOO. Imagine your employers still expecting you to move mountains in that state.
Toying with your emotions….. LMAOoo….Una never see anything. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Your pens have run dry all these while when y’all turned a blind eye not reporting the I’ll treatment being metted out to him knowing well it’s from his salaries he pays his assistants. All of a sudden you’ve found your lost pens now….. LMAOOOO
Lol…. No mind those idiots. None of them remembered they had a pen when the news broke that this man had been owed his wages since 2019. Now wey be say they’ve seen how it feels like to be owed for months, they’ve suddenly found their pens. Clowns.