BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has admitted that coaching the Nigeria’s Super Eagles is the most challenging job in his managerial career. He however noted that he is up to the task as he had in the past, faced difficult situations and overcame.

 

“I have faced so many challenges in my managerial life. Going down with Bordeaux in the French top division as a coach was a difficult situation.

 

“Key players like Didier Deschamps and even my assistants left and I had to rebuild the club and bring it back to the top”, Rohr revealed.

 

He told journalists at the Hotsport Media packaged roundtable ‘Peak Breakfast with Rohr’ that it was that same spirit that he brought to the Super Eagles when Amaju Pinnick offered him the job and told him he had to top the Russia 2018 qualifying group in Africa which was aptly dubbed the “Group of Death”.

 

Having faced big challenges before in his tenure at Bordeaux, Nice and other places he had worked as a coach and the difficulty his family of six men and a lady faced while growing up in his native Germany shortly after the end of the World War II, he believed he can always overcome.

 

On the Super Eagles as the team prepares for 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, he believed that his team is 70 percent built, even though it is still work in progress.

 

“I like the enthusiasm in the team. The way they bond”, said Rohr. On the other 30 percent areas he is working on, Rohr revealed that it cut across all the departments of the team.

 

“The lead goalkeeper is good, but he still needs to improve. Leon Balogun has not been featuring for his club and was not very fit for the match in South Africa, he has to raise his game”, said Rohr who revealed that he has found a good left full back for Nigeria in Germany.

 

He admitted also that his midfield is in need of a playmaker in the mold of Austin Jay Jay Okocha whom he picked as his best ever-Nigerian footballer. He is happy that Odion Ighalo is recovering from his injury.

 

Rohr’s other challenge; the fact that Kelechi Iheanacho was the only natural left footer in the squad is being resolved with the coming in of Samuel Chukwueze into the squad.