Sports
Rohr Not Bigger Than Nigeria -Ministry
Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has urged the Nigerian Football Federation to take a bold decision on Gernot Rohr if the Super Eagles downward slide continues.
According to Tidesports source Eagles recent draws against Sierra Leone in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nation qualifier has put to question the technical competence and commitment of Rohr to the team a top official in the ministry revealed.
“The Eagles is Nigeria’s biggest football brand which cannot be toyed with. If Rohr fails to meet the expectations of millions of Nigerians, then we will have no choice but to do the needful,” a ministry source who spoke on the condition of anonymit, said.
“The NFF must be ready to take the bull by the horns instead of hastily defending Rohr.
“This poor result trend should not repeat itself, otherwise we shall review the entire team set up.
“The Super Eagles represent more than 200 million people, they wear our national colour and sing the national anthem.
“They don’t represent any individuals or federation, but the entire country.
“The aspirations of millions of Nigerians cannot be mortgaged by an individual or small group of people.”
The sports ministry’s new position is coming on the trail of NFF President Amaju Pinnick’s defence of Rohr.
Pinnick had told the BBC “Nobody is happy about what happened against Sierra Leone in both matches. But it is not enough to sack the coach because his team is still top of the Nations Cup group after four matches.
“His statistics speaks volume for him, so on what indexes do we want to sack him considering the contract recently signed by both parties.
“No matter how emotional and disappointed the fans are, there’s no basis to sack him now and he deserves to keep his job.”
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.