Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has reacted to stories making rounds on players imposition on the interim coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen.
Eguavoen took over from Rohr following his sacking as coach of the senior national team of Nigeria few weeks before the commencement of the 2019 delayed Africa Cup of Nations, which took place in Cameroon.
Despite Nigeria crashing out in the round of 16, Eguavoen was retained and handed the task of ensuring that Nigeria qualifies for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They will face Ghana in a two legged playoff for a spot at the tournament.
Ahead of the game Eguavoen called up 32 players and the controversial Inclusion of ex captain Ogenyi Onazi and Eguavoen’s subsequent admission that he included him to pacify some interest led to talks of players imposition.
“Ogenyi Onazi is a good player,” Eguavoen said. “Whether he’s still good and can play at that level we don’t know, but to pacify everybody, to just make sure there’s harmony here I put him on standby”, he said during an interaction with journalist.
Rohr was asked if he faced similar experience as coach of Nigeria and he admitted that there were times when the NFF suggested players to be called up. He however declined to give further details as he won’t like to distract the team ahead of a crucial game.
Rohr said: “It is not the moment to speak about the ‘advice’ I got from them about which players we can invite for the national team, because I want the players to focus and go to the World Cup.
“But they couldn’t influence my decisions”, he told Colin Udoh of ESPN.
