Gernot Rohr, Head Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, has brought joy to Nigerians with his coaching style.
The 64 year old German took charge of the Nigerian team in August 2016. Since then he has lost only one game. That was the 0-2 loss to South Africa in Uyo in the African Cup of Nations 2019 qualifiers.
Like Clemens Westerhof, Rohr is doing very well at the moment. He also seems to be good at scouting youthful players. He has discovered a few players who may not have been discovered if another coach were to be at the helm.
For instance, he discovered Brian Idowu and the impeccable defenders, William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun.
Clemens Westerhof built a team for four good years after he was appointed in 1989 after the team failed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He discovered players like Daniel ‘the bull’ Amokachi, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, and Emmanuel Amunike to mention but a few.
The Dutch man guided Nigeria to the AFCON in 1992, but got knocked out by Ghana in the Semi-finals. Mutiu Adepoju scored first for the Super Eagles in that encounter. But Abedi Pele equalized for Ghana and Prince Polley made it 2-1 in the 54th minute. Nigeria won the bronze medal by defeating Cameroon in the third place match.
The glory year, was 1994. That was the golden age of Nigerian football. The Super Eagles won the Nations cup held in Tunisia, beating Zambia 2-1 in the final.
A few months later, Nigeria headed to USA for the 1994 World Cup. Coach Westerhof qualified the Super Eagles of Nigeria for their first World Cup tournament. That was one of the highest points of Nigerian football.
Nigerians got to the tournament and showed the world why they were African champions. Bulgaria with the likes of Hristo Stoichkov and Krasmir Balakov could not handle the Super Eagles because they were too hot. They were thrashed 3-0.
In the second game of the tournament, Nigeria faced the winner of 1986 World Cup and finalists in 1990, Argentina. It was a team captained by arguably the greatest player ever, Diego Armando Maradona. Nigeria lost 2-1 but not without putting up a scintillating performance.
In the last match Nigeria defeated Greece. In the second round Nigeria faced Italy, three times world champions at the time. They had great players like Roberto Baggio, Antonio Conte and a very strong defense line with Paolo Maldini, Alesesandro Costarcuta and Franco Baresi.
The Super eagles still put up a fine performance and almost knocked out the Italians until a last minute equalizer by Baggio from the spot kick. In injury time, Baggio scored the winning goal that knocked the Super Eagles out of the World Cup.
We were ranked the second most entertaining team after Brazil and ranked sixth best team in the World by the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA. That is the highest ranking till date for the Super Eagles.
Rohr, another coach from Europe is showing promising signs of achieving the feats of Westerhof. Some are predicting he may even do better with these current crops of players.
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There is this argument by some pundits that the Nigerian players are not playing in the biggest clubs in Europe. It was the same for the golden generation in 1994 until they did very well before they moved to the big clubs.
There is no stage bigger than the World Cup. It is the greatest football showpiece in the world. It would be an opportunity for Nigerian players to showcase their talent and attract the biggest clubs in Europe.
Genet Rohr is up to the task of putting a smile on the faces of Nigerians again. He is up to the task of brining the joy Nigerians had watching the Super Eagles in the past.
There was a time Nigerian players were seen in the same way kids see comic figures like Spider man, Super man and all that. The Super Eagles were the darling of all Nigerians.
However, a decline in the Nigerian football saw fans almost abandoning the Super Eagles and became more fanatical about European clubs and foreign players.
The last friendly match against Argentina, which the Super Eagles won 4 – 2, showed that Nigerians could still be very passionate about the Super Eagles if they play very well. Nigerians across the divide were happy and celebrated in unison. That is just a tip of the ice berg. That joy would be nothing compared to Nigeria getting to the World Cup quarter final for the first.
Getting past the round of 16 would be a very big achievement, considering that the Super Eagles of Nigeria have failed to make it past that stage on five occasions.
With the discipline and tactical brilliance of Rohr, the World Cup in Russia next year may just be a very successful outing.
