The Need For Rohr To Roll Up His Sleeves

Opinion: The Need For Rohr To Roll Up His Sleeves By Abiodun Mohammed Thankfully, the Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has delivered the elusive African Nations Cup Ticket to the Amaju Pinnick led Nigeria Football Federation. However, the coach still has a long way to go in making his team well respected in the world as against their current African standard. Before and during the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, Rohr became known as the second half master - performances against Serbia, England, Iceland and the likes attested to this. Coming back to how the Super Eagles qualified for the 2019 AFCON, many would agree that the team's qualification was relatively easy. They were initially on the back foot after losing to South Africa in their first group game before turning around the table with wins over Seychelles, Libya and their latest one all draw in South Africa. By and large, the team still looks like one still struggling to have a decisive tactical master. For instance, in their most recent game where an ever lackluster Kelechi Iheanacho featured as point man, the Super Eagles hardly had any attacking move initiated by Iheanacho. Unfortunately, Rohr's failure to replace the conservative and unserious point man as early as the commencement of the second half with a "bull dog" like Isaac Success who could have given the South African defenders a lot of headache physically is a pointer to the fact that Rohr's tactical acumen remains unpolished. Also, his refusal to instruct an Alex Iwobi who kept showboating in the game showed he drives a car without adequately controlling the steering. Furthermore, it appears the coach prefers massaging the egos of some players in the team while flinging form books of others in their clubsides out of the window. Undoubtedly, Rohr has had some nice moments as the Gaffer of the Super Eagles but he has to be more swift and decisive with his actions before the halcyon days are over. .