FORMER Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has said that the team had no reason not to beat Lesotho at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
Rohr is currently the head coach of Benin Republic, who are incidentally in the same 2026 World Cup African qualifying Group C as Nigeria.
The Super Eagles opened their campaign in Uyo on Thursday with a disappointing 1-1 draw with minnows Lesotho, and Rohr said he followed the match.
“I spent some years in Nigeria and we played even here in South Africa, in Johannesburg against Bafana Bafana,” the German said after his Benin Republic side were beaten 2-1 by South Africa in Durban on Saturday.
“So you always have an eye on your former team and I was suffering with them when I saw that they attacked and attacked without scoring a goal (against Lesotho).
“And they had to wait for a corner and a header from a big player Semi Ajayi.”
The three-time African champions were without key players Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Samuel Chukwueze, but Rohr insisted they had enough to beat the team ranked 113 spots below them by FIFA.
“Yes, they have problems. We know that they have big players, perhaps they have the best players all over Africa in this team,” Rohr added.
“Some of them were not available but still they had three centre forwards attacking the game. They’re all wonderful players. They also had another striker, Lookman, and Iwobi behind.
“Normally, they should win this game in Uyo in this wonderful stadium.”
At the time of the draw, Nigeria were the clear favourites to secure the group’s only ticket, but Rohr believes it is an open race, especially after the shock in Uyo.
“Like you saw, all is possible in this group,” he noted. “In this group I think there can be a lot of surprises and this is already one of them (the Uyo game).
“We never believed that Lesotho could get a draw in Nigeria but they did well and showed that they are able to say they are worth to be in this group.”
