Tag: Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have reached the play-off stage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier while Nigerians await to know their next opponent in the next stage. Stakeholders are however waiting patiently to know the Super Eagles opponents as the draw will hold in December 2021.

However, the circumstance which the Super Eagles reached the play-off stage seems unsatisfactory and that could be the reason why calls are been made for the sack of Gernot Rohr. Nigeria’s last group match against Cape Verde at the Teslim Balogun Stadium which ended 1-1 was one of such matches which a typical patient of BP must avoid. But it is also difficult for a real football stakeholder to avoid such match despite being a BP patient. So much have been put in place to support the German tactician, who is arguably Nigeria’s longest serving Coach. With his experience with the team at the Russia 2018 World Cup and the AFCON 2019 hosted by Egypt where Nigeria finished third to win the bronze, everyone had expected that the standard of play under Rohr would have improved, but the German toiled with the health of football stakeholders in the match against Cape Verde. Watching the last few minutes of the clash with Cape Verde was like facing a live cobra preparing to spit out its venom. Cape Verde made serious advances and increased their efforts to score a last minute goal, but perhaps they were poor in finishing, and did not get the desired result. Most Nigerian fans and stakeholders who watched the match had their hearts in their hands. There was fear that a goal could come late and end the Qatar dream, and it was only the final whistle that saved everyone of that fear, even the BP pills failed to save the situation. After managing the team for five years, Nigerians needed a kind of match that would make qualification in stages like this more convincing and authoritative but the clash against Cape Verde showed how tactical weak Rohr was. Perhaps a 3-1 lead over Cape Verde with 10 minutes left would relax the BP of patients who watched the match, but such kind of game was not found in the team, as Cape Verde played with high hope of edging the Super Eagles. Moreover, the Super Eagles had suffered an unimpressive 1-0 loss to lowly rated Central African Republic at Teslim Balogun Stadium on October 7, that loss denied them the maximum three points and further put their qualification into jeopardy. A victory against CAR at Teslim Balogun stadium would have made the final group match against Cape Verde a mere formality, but Rohr tactically avoided it, thereby putting the health of Nigerian fans at risk. The die is cast as the Super Eagles is yet to know their next opponent in the play-off stage, time will only tell if the investment and hopes which football stakeholders had made will pay off when they play the final stage of the qualifier in March next year.