Rohr Could Be Sacked After AFCON Tournament

By Akinwale Kasali

Super Eagles Coach Germot Rohr could be relieved of his appointment as head coach of the Nigerian National football team after the 2019 African Cup of Nations championship in Egypt.

The decision to sack the Franco/German was reached immediately after the Super Eagles lost to the Desert Warriors of Algeria in that semi final match on Sunday.

The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, led by Amaju Pinnick expressed their disappointment over the loss, emphasising that the substitutions made by Rohr killed the rythm of the team, and rendered the Eagles ineffective.

The introduction of Henry Onyekuru as a substitute for Samuel Chukwueze gave the Algerians the confidence to press forward after they noticed that Nigeria’s biggest threat in attack has been taken off.

The Galatasary Football Club of Turkey winger, Onyekuru did his beat, but his introduction came at a time when Chidozie Awaziem was not ready to take any more risk  because he was scared of a second yellow card.

Saudi-based Ahmed Musa who coincidentally was team captain on the day was completely out of gas after 45minutes, but Rohr allowed him to play on, only to take Chukwueze out for Onyekuru who was making his AFCON debut.

Former Senegalese internationals Khalilou Fadiga and El Hadji Diouf blamed Rohr’s decision to remove Chukwueze when he did and they went straight to register their disappointment with some officials of the NFF minutes before Mahrez registered the winning goal.

Rohr had offered himself up for sacrifice when he gave a post match  interview after the loss to Madagascar, saying he was not ashamed to lose to Madagascar, a statement that got NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, totally infuriated, knowing he wanted to win that match at all cost to confirm his bragging right over CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad, who is from Madagascar.

There was also a Facebook post that got to the attention of the NFF on the eve of the match with Algeria where a certain lady, believed to have very close ties with Rohr, posted pictures of their emerging romance and went on to appeal to the NFF to pay her hubby his outstanding four months salary, when it is on record that the NFF has cleared all his outstanding salary till June, 2019.

It took the intervention of some chieftains of the football house before this lady agreed to take down the post from her wall, claiming that she got the information directly from source, and owed no one any explanation or excuse.

Though, Rohr was given a semi final target by the NFF, but it comes with a caveat that he should aim for gold.

Unfortunately, that feat is no longer a reality. So, Rohr has some explanations to give,  sources at the NFF revealed.

The Rohr team still has something to rely on as they face the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the third place playoff.

The coming days will determine the fate of Rohr.