Rohr’s time is up but we’re stuck with him

NIGERIANS are utterly frustrated with the Super Eagles and most of their ire is directed at the head coach Gernot Rohr. Amid the soaring prices of commodities, galloping inflation, escalating insecurity and rising tensions all across the country, the one thing that has kept Nigerians happy is football, especially the national team.That was why there was serious excitement in the air when sporting activities gradually made a return after the months-long coronavirus lockdown. People could finally watch sports again and get a temporary escape from life’s never-ending problems.

The return to action of the Super Eagles, the people’s darling national team, was the icing on the cake and everyone eagerly anticipated their matches.However, instead of easing the feeling of despondence in the people, even if fleetingly, the return of the Super Eagles has done the opposite. It has made Nigerians even more frustrated, infuriated and stressed out.Since the restart of football this year, the Super Eagles have played four matches and won none. Zilch. Zero.Of course if these games were against the world’s superpowers, three draws and one defeat in four matches would be viewed with more sympathetic eyes.

But these were games against Algeria, Tunisia and Sierra Leone (twice).At the very least, you would expect two victories from these games, especially in back-to-back fixtures against the tiny Sierra Leone.Instead, in the dire run, the Super Eagles made some dubious history, one of which was failing to win from the widest-margin lead in decades.

The results were not only poor, the performances were dull, uninspiring, unflattering and insipid. While the players were massively complicit, their coach Rohr should take the chunk of the blame.Sometimes the Super Eagles appeared like a team without coaching, or one with a coach just picking 11 players and telling them ‘play your game’ without working on any tactical plans.

In the friendly matches against Algeria and Tunisia in Austria in October, the Eagles lacked any kind of cohesion; they could hardly string four passes together or play any semblance of flowing football.Because those were their first games back after a long break, and there was a bunch of new players involved, it was easy to accept Rohr’s excuses for the bland performances.We expected that spices would be added in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on home soil one month later, and the Super Eagles would play delicious football.

But it actually got worse; it went from bland to rancid.Prior to the match in Benin City, everyone talked tough and gave football fans hope. The Deputy Governor of Edo State, the sports minister and the Nigeria Football Federation President even broke all serious football protocols and ‘trained’ with the team as confidence soared.Rohr, now with most of his star players available, gave assurances that his team would play football that Nigerians would be proud of.

The German then went on to oversee one of the worst performances in Nigerian football history.If you only heard about the result, you would not know the real scale of how awfully the team performed. You would just wonder how they let slip of a 4-0 lead to end up with a 4-4 draw.It was really bad and most of it was down to poor tactics and bad choices made by Rohr.

I was at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium for the match and watching that shocking performance live was a harrowing experience. It was like a horror movie where you could see disaster coming but could do nothing to prevent it.Rohr could have done a lot to stop the Leone Stars though, but he either did not know how or he was unwilling to try it.

Either way, the end result was a terrible reflection of his abilities as a coach.Of course, the Super Eagles took a 4-0 lead inside the first 30 minutes and looked to be cruising.

But even as they were scoring, there were signs of danger and the few of us at the stadium let out gasp after gasp as the Leone Stars fluffed great chances of scoring.At 1-0 to the Super Eagles, Sierra Leone had two easy chances that a better team would have put away.

But Rohr did not spot the danger and his team eventually paid for it.Strangely, everyone at the media tribune (only journalists and a few government officials were allowed in due to COVID-19 guidelines) was worried as Sierra Leone easily cut through the Nigeria defence; there was even one gentleman who kept referencing Arsenal’s 4-4 draw with Newcastle United in 2011, when the Gunners blew a 4-0 lead.

But nobody believed it was going to happen to Nigeria. No, not against Sierra Leone, we all thought.It did happen though, and Rohr gets 70 percent of the blame. He persisted with Kevin Akpoguma as the right-back when it was obvious that the Hoffenheim centre-back was struggling in that position. Rohr had natural right-backs Ola Aina  and Tyrone Ebuehi on the bench but refused to make the change, and the smart Sierra Leone coach exploited the flaw.Ahmed Musa is without a club and has been inactive for months, yet Rohr gave him a start in Benin City and made him play from an unaccustomed central role.Luckily, the match was played behind closed doors. If not, only God knows what Benin fans would have done to Rohr and his boys.

Even at that, scores of incensed fans waited outside the stadium for the teams, cheering on the Leone Stars as they drove out while needing to be restrained from harming the Super Eagles.When your own fans, who normally worship you, turn on you, then you must know that something is seriously wrong.But the threat of physical harm (which is condemnable anyway) and the intense criticism that followed that performance did nothing to help Rohr correct his mistakes.He fielded Akpoguma as right-back and started Musa again in Freetown four days later. Rohr also played Aina as left-back, meaning he had two full-backs in unnatural positions while he had players on the bench who would fit naturally into the positions. He could have played either Aina or Ebuehi at right-back and either Zaidu Sanusi or Jamilu Collins at left-back.But Rohr seems to have favourites he has to shoehorn into the team, no matter what. He has made strange choices in the past, but the ones he made in the last four matches are quite baffling.It is as if Rohr is sticking a finger at the NFF for giving him a torrid time before handing him a new two-year contract.

Now that he has the contract, it would cost the NFF a fortune to get rid of him with at least 18 months still left of the deal.The football under Rohr has not been eye-catching, the results have been average, he is yet to win a major tournament and he has led the Super Eagles to a calendar year of no single victory, the first time that has happened in decades.It would be the perfect time to get rid of the German and get a new coach with some fresh ideas.

But, unfortunately, we might be stuck with Rohr for the next few months.In spite of sports minister Sunday Dare’s not-so-subtle threats to fire Rohr, the German knows he holds all the aces. He knows Dare is bluffing and can do little unless he is willing to authorise a hefty payout.The turgid football Rohr’s team is playing is only barely acceptable when a team is winning; nobody tolerates it when you’re not winning. 

The team has not made much progress under the German (failing to get beyond the first round at the World Cup and finishing third at AFCON is definitely not progress for a big team like the Super Eagles) and NFF President Amaju Pinnick would surely love to send him packing.But Pinnick knows he has to live with his decision to extend Rohr’s stay, and he admitted that it is nigh on impossible to sack the coach now.We are all stuck with Rohr for the forseeable future.