*Gernot Rohr To Face Nigeria As Foe
Coach Godwin Izilien, the manager coach of the Super Falcons, has expressed doubts on the abilities of Coach Jose Peseiro to lead the Super Eagles to navigate the Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifying pool after the three times African champions were quartered in Group C alongside the Bafana Bafana of South Africa as well as the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in a draw conducted in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday. Also in the six-team group are Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.
With Benin Republic in the pool, it also presents an opportunity for former Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr, to have a chance to return to Nigeria for a match against his former team for a place at the World Cup to be hosted in 2026 by the trio of the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Izilien, a former women national team coach, called for the inclusion of hungry players in the team for the qualifiers, while also expressing doubts on the abilities of the Portuguese manager to effectively lead the team to qualify for the Mundial.
“The NFF should go for hungrier players because at this time, any of the teams can be a problem to Nigeria,” he said in a report.
“The attention should not be on South Africa alone but on all the teams but I do not have confidence in the abilities of the coach,” he expressed.
Also speaking on the draws, former Super Eagles defender, Kadiri Ikhana, said the former African champions should prepare well in order to navigate through the group.
“It is a fair group but they have to prepare well in order not to be caught unawares. They can make it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the draw presented a great opportunity for the immediate past coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr, to face his former team.
Rohr managed the Super Eagles for more than three years with little or no success before he parted ways with the NFF, leading to the engagement of Peseiro. However, the Franco-German manager, Rohr, later took up job as the coach of Benin Republic, on the strength of which, he would face the Super Eagles in the qualifiers.
