President of the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) Amaju Pinnick has revealed the discussion he had with coach of the Super Eagles Gernot Rohr shortly before Nigeria defeated Argentina 4-2 in last month friendly.
The Eagles came from two goals down to win the high profile game, and according to Pinnick, Rohr who switched formation to 3-5-2 for the game was confident it will make the difference a day to the game.
Pinnick said Rohr told him that the formation will no doubt give Nigeria an edge in the game, a day to the game, a statement which later turned out to be true.
Incidentally Nigeria were drawn alongside Argentina, Croatia and Iceland in the World Cup 2018 draws held on Friday in Russia.
“Nobody gave us a chance (vs Argentina in Krasnodar three weeks ago).But a day to the game, the coach came to me and told me we will apply a different tactics and that will make the difference. If you know it will work, let’s go.” Pinnick told CNN
“We have a coach who has the mentality of a winner, and he has imbibed the players with the same attitude, We can do very well at the World Cup in Russia.
“I am very delighted that we have a team for tomorrow; a team for the next (2022) World Cup finals”, Pinnick remarked.
Osas Mahawi
