AFCON
Exclusive! Gernot Rohr overtakes Clemens Westerhof
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
On Sunday 15 August 2021,Sports Village Square recalls that it was 32 years since Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof was signed as the Super Eagles’ head coach. He went on to spend 1,787 days on the saddle till he walked away on 6 July 1994.
He was therefore Nigeria’s coach for four years, 10 months and 22 days, the longest ever until the beginning of this month. The pendulum on longevity in the service to the Super Eagles has now shifted to the man currently on the saddle – Gernot Rohr who is now the longest serving Nigerian coach.
Employed on 5 August 2016, Rohr has now spent 1,835 days (five years and eight days) on the saddle – 47 days more than that of Westerhof.
Both coaches qualified Nigeria for the World Cup finals, taking Nigeria to World Cup finals in the territories of the two world’s super powers.
While Westerhof took Nigeria to the West at USA ‘94, Rohr guarded the Super Eagles to the opposite direction, taking Nigeri a to the East – Russia 2018.
Algeria also posed common denominator for both as their respective World Cup qualifying matches were away duels against Algeria.
Coincidentally, on-field results of the matches were 1-1, with Nigeria scoring first.
as Westerhof took Nigeria to the USA -94 while Rohr did the same by taking Nigeria to Russia 2018.
Incidentally, both World Cup editions were hosted by the political super powers – USA and Russia. In Westerhof’s four years, 10 months and 22 days as Nigeria’s manager, the team played 52 matches, won 27, drew 13 and lost 12.
Apart from the qualification for World Cup, Westerhof’s teams made it to the podium at the Africa Cup of Nations three times, winning in 1994 and getting the second and third places in 1990 and 1992.
As at this Monday 16 August 15, 2021, Rohr’s 1,835 days (five years and eight days) have seen him taking Nigeria to the third place of the Africa Cup of Nations at Egypt 2019 and will be hoping for an improved achievement in the next edition which final draw holds on Tuesday.
He is under contract till 31 December 2022 – a period covering till the end of Qatar 2022. If he qualifies the Super Eagles, he becomes the first coach to qualify the team to two World Cup editions and consecutively too.
His score card so far read: 48 matches as against Westerhof’s 52. Out of the 48 matches, Nigeria under Rohr won 22, drew 13 and lost 13 including the 4-0 loss to Mexico in which he was drafted as a last minute replacement to Austin Eguavoen.
Prosecution of friendly matches dents Rohr’s record as his team won just three out of 18 since he became Nigeria’s manager in August 2016. In 30 competitive matches, his Super Eagles won 19, drew six and lost five.
Overall, Rohr trails Amodu Shuaibu and Clemens Westerhof in the number of matches Nigeria played.
In the four spells of Shuabu as Nigeria’s manager (1994-97, 1999, 2001/02, 2008-2010) Nigeria played 53 matches, one more than Westerhof grossed.
With just five matches short of the record of Shuaibu, Rohr will most likely overtake him and Westerhof by the time the Super Eagles play their World Cup qualifying matches and the group games of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next January.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
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