The proposed plan of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to move the Super Eagles World Cup 2018 Qualifiers from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium has been rejected by coach of the team Gernot Rohr.
Issues regarding logistics and attitude of the crowd made the NFF to toy with the idea of moving the games of Nigeria from the stadium, amidst reports of the stadium being placed under a spell by aggrieved residence of the land, who are claiming their land was forcefully collected from them to build the stadium.
Nigeria lost her last game at the stadium to South Africa 0-2 in their first AFCON 2019 Qualifiers, and their next competitive game which will be against Cameroon in the race to be at the World Cup 2018 is rumoured to have been shifted from the ground.
However coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr has kicked against the idea of moving the team from the Godswill Akpabio Stadium insisting it will affect the psychology of the players, who have taken the venue as their home.
” I am in constant touch with the team’s captain (Mikel Obi) and other senior players and they all agree that the team remains in Uyo to finish all qualifiers. Changing the venue will put the boys under pressure. The players are at home with Uyo fans”, Rohr stated.
The coach insist that the pitch didn’t contribute to his team’s loss against South Africa as speculated by many, and wants them to remain in Uyo to finish both the World Cup 2018 Qualifiers and AFCON 2019 Qualifiers as well.
Ade Emmanuel
