Gernot Rohr must be a magician to keep his job as Eagles’ manager for over five years. Philippe Troussier, the acclaimed ‘White Witch doctor’, spent less than a year on the same job in 1997 and was kicked out even after qualifying for the France ’98 World Cup.
In Nigeria, there is the slang of ‘cutting soap’. Whoever cut soap for Rohr deserves an award. The magic is working and NFF president Amaju Pinnick needs to be taken to the Olu of Itsekiri to cure him of what looks like a spell induced by the German.
There is so much between Rohr and Troussier. Both men played soccer as defenders, coached their former clubs and found jobs managing Burkina Faso before Nigeria. They also were employed by North African teams.
Rohr was in defence for French side, Bordeaux and later handled the club. That was what Troussier did at Red Star. Troussier was coach of FUS Rabat. Rohr took charge of Etoile Sahel and both men also were African Nations Cup semi finalists.
Their pattern of joining the Eagles followed similar route. Troussier wanted to join Iwuanyanwu National but ended up as Nigerian manager. Rohr tried to get a job at Enyimba, he landed the Eagles job.
I met Troussier at Hotel GL Cotonou, in 1990 Infact, he walked up to me. The Super Eagles were lodged in the hotel as guests of Squirrels of Benin in a Senegal ‘ 92 African Nations Cup qualifier.
There was confusion because the hosts were unable to pay the hotel bill of their hosts. Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Phillip Koroye had to intervene. He settled the bill. While that was going on, Monsieur Troussier sought my attention.
I would not know who told him that I was close to Iwuanyanwu National. The French man told me in confidence that he was interested in managing the Naze Millionaires. Troussier dropped a Paris contact address with me.
At the time, he was coach of Ivorian side, ASEC Mimosas. I dashed to the Stade L’ Amitie, Cotonou to watch Eagles triumph 1-0, thanks to Ishaya Jatau. Aloy Agu was in goal while Clemens Westerhof kept Peter Rufai on the bench.
In 1991, Iwuanyanwu eliminated Troussier’s ASEC from the continent. In 1993, the Frenchman had become coach of the Ivorian national team and taught the Eagles a few lessons in Austin Okocha’s debut in a USA’94 World Cup qualifier in Abidjan.
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Rohr showed interest in Enyimba long before Pinnick found him. He first approached Chief Oscar Udoji, proprietor of 1997 continental debutants, Udoji United who took him to Enyimba backbone, Chief Orji Kalu. The coach was not considered good enough.
Here we are today stuck with Rohr. He has been to the World Cup, he has been to the African Nations Cup. There is nothing to show for the millions of naira in his bank account. Stephen Keshi led Nigeria to the second round of the World Cup in 2014. The German could not do that four years later.
Rohr won African Nations Cup bronze in 2019. Adegboye Onigbinde had won silver in1984 and Keshi capped it up with gold in 2013, earning peanuts and with players who were not as rated as what Rohr had in 2019.
Troussier, who was not allowed to settle down before being fired in 1997, went ahead to prove himself all over the world. He took Japan to the last 16 of the World Cup in 2002. The White Witch doctor led the Japs to the quarter finals of the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Troussier lifted the Asian Cup with Japan in 2000. In 2001, they played in the grand finale of the Confederation Cup. Troussier was at France ’98 as coach of South Africa. He has managed Qatar, he has handled Morocco and was once head of the Burkinabe national team.
At the FIFA Under -20 Youth Championships hosted by Nigeria in 1999, Troussier led Japan to win silver while the Flying Eagles could not advance beyond the quarter finals. It was from that same team that the Japanese built a strong World Cup and Olympic squad around Shinji Ono, Junichi Inamoto, Akira Kaji and Masashi Motoyama.
Unfortunately, after all the exploits, Troussier has found himself managing the Under -19 squad of Vietnam.
Lucky Rohr. He has spent five years in Nigeria and achieved nothing. Westerhof ‘s five years brought an African Nations Cup gold, World Cup debut and African Footballer of the Year Award.
Rohr is fluent in English and speaks French. He pronounces Nigerian names better than some NFA officials. Give that to him. Troussier could not quite communicate in English. Tough luck. It counted against him in Japan. When he converted to Islam and rechristened himself Omar, it did not stop Morocco and Qatar from sacking him.
Rohr has never managed a national team outside sub Saharan Africa. He has not won any worthy trophy. He has led the Super Eagles to .national disgrace in Lagos against Central African Republic. Sierra Leone embarrassed Nigeria in Benin.
Watching the Eagles is an invitation to heart attack. Yet this was a team that was adjudged the fifth best in the world in 1994. Should Pele peep across his window to see Rohr’s Eagles play, he may be forced to return to his creator. How lucky can a failed coach be?
