Gernot Rohr has predicted a bright future for Nigeria at the international soccer scene. But the Super Eagles gaffer, who spoke to our Group Sports Editor, EMMA JEMEGAH, shortly after guiding Nigeria to win her eight bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt, on Wednesday, said the players in the current squad of the Super Eagles need to ply their trade with big clubs in top European leagues, in order to be competitive enough and stake bold claims for titles at international tournaments. He also spoke on the lessons from the last World Cup in Russia and AFCON 2019, FIFA 2022 and AFCON 2021 qualifiers as well as his future with the Nigerian team, among others.
Excerpts!
Congratulations on today’s match, so what is the future of the team?
The future is very bright, we have young players who can still progress and improve. There’s a very good spirit in the team, they learnt a lot from the World Cup and here in the AFCON. If only the team can improve in specific positions, let’s say in the next two years, the team can be the AFCON winner. That’s the target, but I don’t know if it will be achieved under my charge. Yes, I have a contract, but I can go out of the contract because there’s a clause to that effect. I will think about what happened last month and last year. I love this team and I love Nigeria, but there were so some problems. I have to take a little bit of rest and rethink if I will continue with Nigeria.
The AFCON is gone, but we have the qualifying matches for the 2021 edition as well as the 2022 World Cup. You have some players who might not be available amid younger ones. How do you intend to manage the situation?
At first, I have to be sure whether I’ll continue as coach of the team or not. If we continue together, I know what to do because I know the team very well now. I also know what we must do better. I know which positions we must search for more players. Our offensive department is good, it’s young. We have a good goal scorer, but I’m not sure if he will continue with the national team. Playing in China, coming to Nigeria, injuries, this are problems. We have to find other midfielders also. Our three midfielders make all the matches. Obi Mikel was injured in the end and I’m not sure if he will continue. Then, we have to find new defensive midfielders; John Ogu is one of them, but, then, he didn’t play so much because he was exhausted playing in his club and friendlies. But, here, he played only 45 minutes against Madagascar and we saw that he needs competition like other players, such as Balogun and Uzoho who are not playing in their clubs. We need players who are playing in their clubs all year long. We have players who are playing in clubs, but not in big clubs in the class of Riyad Mahrez for example, like goalkeeper Onana of Cameroon who played in the Champions League; we don’t have any Champions League player. Our strength is the collective, good work together. We have to find other players. Etebo has to play in a top league, not in the England second division. The only thing is that the players have to grow and play in good clubs. That will help because the most of the work is done in the clubs and not in the national team, it’s exceptional to have them like some weeks to a competition.
Looking forward, what are your plans for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFCON 2021 qualifiers?
The players have to play in good clubs; they have to do a lot of work, some of them should find better clubs now, players like Moses Simon, Oghene Etebo, Francis Uzoho are still young, they can still improve. They have to start looking for better teams. It is not my job to do that for them because I am not their agent. I can’t promote them, but they need to play all through the year to deserve places in this team. You can’t come in here without being fit, we don’t have time to keep you fit; so, we need those who already are fit to fall into our plans. With this performance in AFCON, these players should get new clubs, they have worked hard for it, they deserve it. They have good character, they are young and agile. We have to keep our eyes open to find new players of Nigerian origin like we found Jamilu Collins and Samuel Kalu wherever they are. And, of course, we need to follow the domestic league as well. We need to look for goalkeepers in Nigeria, something like education for goalkeepers, these are important. Then, infrastructures, you can see the pitches they have here in Egypt, very good pitches, and we need to have such pitches in Nigeria too.
And, again, there should be some kind of harmony between the sports minister and the federation. If you want to move forward and there is no infrastructure and solidarity among stakeholders, it will be very difficult.
You have led this team to two major competitions, the 2018 World Cup and this AFCON, what lessons have your players learnt from the tournaments?
They have learnt a lot. They’ve learnt to have better communication on the pitch, they’ve learnt to play efficient football and to be realistic. They’ve learnt that they can bounce back after a little shock like the game against Madagascar, and like they did after the half-time in the game against Cameroon. They also learnt to be stronger mentally. Look at the game against South Africa, we conceded a goal, but we came back to score and win it. Again, after the unfortunate defeat to Algeria, we had to be ready to win the third place match against Tunisia. I think in this department, they are progressing a lot mentally.
What we have to work on is individual mistakes; we conceded some goals due to that. William Troost-Ekong against Algeria, the deflected goal from Wilfred Ndidi in the loss to Madagascar and the back pass from Balogun in that match; and, again, Kenneth Omeruo’s individual mistake in the friendly against Senegal, he scored the goal of that match. When you have players who you like, you have to let them know they have to cut down on the mistakes they make.
You’ve faced a lot of criticism on the job, some even blame you for not always shouting at the touchline, but most of the time you smile, why?
I usually laugh because I have got the nerves. When I was a player, I didn’t like coaches who were too aggressive. I think a player needs a coach who is relaxed, cool and also a fighter like we are. When a coach is calm, there is also the possibility that the players are also calm; there wouldn’t be so much of nervous attitude or red card. You can see that we didn’t get any red card; I think we had one suspension from Chigozie Awaziem. We help the players to be calm and concentrate on their work. I don’t expect to be friends with everybody, but, I earn my respect; life is too short that you need to smile.
What kind of team are we going to have in the next two years if you continue on the job?
If I continue, I have my plans and ideas which includes to make sure we progress in each department. I want to have more goalkeepers, defenders, especially the full backs, defensive midfielders, even offensive ones and strikers. We have team spirit, whatever I asked the players to do they complied, we have solidarity, which is a big value in the group.
We have mental strength and the feeling to be happy together. Even as we leave now, we will be happy to see everybody again, it is not only about winning, but about human relationship.