Former coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says the Super Eagles had a poor start to the world cup qualifiers by failing to win their first two games under former coach Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria started the world cup 2026 qualifiers with a 1-1 draw at home against Lesotho and also drew by the same scoreline against Zimbabwe in their second game of the series.
Peseiro who led the team in both games left the team after leading them to a second place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) following the expiration of his contract, with the NFF failing to reach agreement with him on fresh terms.
His assistant Finidi George was appointed as his replacement, and he failed to better the poor start by his former boss with the team drawing at home 1-1 against South Africa before losing 1-2 away to Benin Republic.
Looking back at the Super Eagles position ahead of his team’s game against Zimbabwe on Thursday, Rohr said his former team who are 5th in the 6 team group are paying the price for a poor start to the qualifiers.
” When I was in charge of the Super Eagles, we always want to start well because you can’t fall behind very early. It is what we have done with Benin Republic in the AFCON and World Cup Qualifiers”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
” Look at Nigeria now who are 5th and four points behind. They started without a win in the first two games. It is that gap that now exists with the top teams and we are hoping to remain at the top at the end of this round of games”, he said.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
