Super Eagles Coach, Rohr Reacts to South Africa Loss
Nigeria head coach, Gernot Rohr, has refused to make excuses for his side’s shock loss to South Africa in the opener of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, insisting that his confidence in the side remains unshaken.
At a packed Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Saturday, Bafana Bafana stunned the Eagles with two second half strikes from Tokelo Rantie and Percy Tau to tur]n the qualifiers on its head.
It was South Africa’s first win over the Eagles and the team’s first reverse under Rohr, but the German tactician has called for calm, stating that his young Eagles will learn from the setback, Goal writes.
”My young team had a good first half, they played very well but they didn’t score. And in the second half, we knew that the experienced South Africans could be dangerous on counters and that happened,’’ Rohr told the media after the game.
”We had difficulties to finish the match physically because some of my players were tired. We tried to put in three offensive players to bring some power in the attack but it was not enough .
”We knew that South Africa were unbeaten in 17 now 18 games and expected a tough game.
”After this kind of game, we are expected to make progress. My young team with an average age of 23 years today – the youngest in Africa will learn, they will not repeat the same mistakes.
”We controlled the game until the goal and after that, they became nervous. But I trust these players and I will not like to give any excuses.
”I am satisfied with my team and we have to be positive because we cannot always win. We win and we lose together.’’
The Eagles will have to pick themselves up for the World Cup qualifier double-header against Cameroon in two months’ time, before their next Afcon qualifier against Seychelles March 27, 2018.
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