Pinnick defends under fire Gernot Rohr

NFF President Amaju Pinnick and coach of Super Eagles Gernot Rohr

NFF President Amaju Pinnick and coach of Super Eagles Gernot Rohr

NFF President Amaju Pinnick and coach of Super Eagles Gernot Rohr

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has  defended  Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr despite  recent disappointing results.

Rohr joined the Nigerian national team in 2016 and recently signed a new two-year contract with the NFF.

The Franco-German guided the three-time African champions to the 2018 World Cup in Russia with ease and led the side to finish third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt.

Rohr, has however, faced heavy criticism  after a string of disappointing games.

The most recent of the disappointments were the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Tuesday’s draw with Sierra Leone meant that the Super Eagles failed to win a match in 2020.

Pinnick is adamant though that such record is not enough to question the 67-year-old’s competence.

“Nobody is happy about what happened against Sierra Leone in both matches,” Pinnick told BBC Sport Africa.

“But it is not enough to sack the coach because his team is still top of the Nations Cup group after four matches.

Related News

“His statistics speak volume for him, so on what indexes do we want to sack him considering the contract recently signed by both parties.

“No matter how emotional and disappointed the fans are, there’s no basis to sack him now and he deserves to keep his job.

“When you look at his performance, where he has won 29 matches, drew 14 and lost 10, you can say that is enough to back him.

“Yes, the performance in the last two games has not gone down well with some people, but we need to be professional, honest and respectful in how we analyse things.”

Nigeria remain on top of Group L of the AFCON qualifying table with eight points from four games.

 

 

 

Load more