A World Cup appearance and an Afcon bronze medal are the German’s major highlights at the helm of the Super Eagles
Former Nigeria Football Federation board member John Fashanu has given a brutal assessment of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, saying the German has built a weak team “not good enough to dominate African football.”
Without mincing his words, Fashanu said Rohr has underachieved as Nigeria coach who also has a low regard for home-based players.
Under Rohr, Nigeria failed to get past the group stage at the 2018 Fifa World Cup, after having reached the Round of 16 under the late Stephen Keshi in the previous edition in 2014.
They also settled for bronze at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, after arriving in Egypt as one of the tournament’s favourites.
Fashanu gave a ruthless assessment of Rohr’s tenure as Super Eagles coach, saying Nigeria currently does not have a team.
“I think Rohr has underachieved as the coach of Super Eagles. What has he achieved, what has he won? That team is certainly not good enough to dominate African football. We still have a lot of work to do to be the best in Africa. For now, we don’t have a team yet,” Fashanu told Complete Sports.
“At the moment, this is one of the lowest times I have seen of the Super Eagles. I am sorry to say that, but I am not excited about the team now and I feel the coach is not doing enough with domestic players. Rohr should stay in Nigeria and develop our league players.”
Fashanu, a former England international, continued to hit out at Rohr for not paying attention to players who play domestic league football in Nigeria.
“Rohr should work on our domestic players and stop complaining. Part of his resume I guess must include developing local talents and coaches,” said Fashanu.
“He should emulate what the late Stephen Keshi did with domestic league players before going ahead to win the Afcon in South Africa in 2013. I urge the NFF to caution him about his utterances and get him to work on home-based players.
“He should take charge of the home-based Eagles and groom them for the main team. It’s a shame that we could not qualify for Chan and Wafu competitions meant for home-based African players. Rohr needs to step up his game.”
Imama Amapakabo has been handling Nigeria’s home-based players in the African Nations Championship and West African Football Union matches.
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