Battle Of Freetown: Things Fall Apart In Super Eagles Camp
By Our Correspondent
Like strangers they are, Sierra Leonears arrived Nigeria, Benin, Edo State capital, on Wednesday, 11th of November, 2020 to be exact; they came with a mission – to cause trouble for Nigerian football lovers. That they did with resilience and astute doggedness as they fought from four-zero down to level the scores at 4-4 on Firday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium
The held not just the Super Eagles to ransom, but denied Nigerians joy and peace of mind. They implanted a seed of discord within the minds and beliefs of the Nigeria Super Eagles players, coaches and officials and few days after their departure, things are now falling apart with the three-time Africa Cup of Nations champions.
As the return leg of the qualifier holds in Freetown on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, report has it that the camp of the Super Eagles is in disarray. This is happening as the team is expected to jet out of the country today for the all-important match against the Leone Stars
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is battling to bring sanity to Super Eagles camp over ‘the bad blood’ generated by Friday’s 4-4 draw the Nigerian team recorded against Sierra Leone in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.
Nigeria led Sierra Leone by 4-0 only for the Leone Stars to come back and force the Super Eagles to a 4-4 draw.
At the end of the game, many of the players and some backroom staff blamed Rohr for the draw, accusing the German of ignoring their counsel in game management.
An NFF top official, who pleaded anonymity, told the Sun that the federation’s president, Amaju Pinnick, had to intervene when it looked like some players and coaches were trying to mutiny against Rohr over the way he is handling the team.
Relating to an incident during the match when skipper Ahmed Musa had to confront Rohr for making bad changes in the course of the game, the source said many of the senior players accused the German of not understanding the flow of the game and therefore could not make effective changes.
“The Sierra Leonean coach made three changes that turned the game on its head, while Rohr reduced the effectiveness of our team by some curious decisions.
“The worst part is that he did not seek any of his coaches’ opinion before the game. He only wrote some things on a paper and passed to our team secretary, Dayo Enebi, who then submitted names for substitutions.
“Rohr said some of the players were not mentally ripe for national team games, yet he keeps inviting these players.
“The way things stand, if the NFF president fails to bring sanity to the camp, we could witness worse performance in Freetown,” he said.
The source also said some of the senior players have started questioning Rohr’s competence, arguing the German has not been able to lift the team above the 2017 level.
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