By Amaechi Agbo

Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has bemoaned the team’s inability to make their dominance count after they lost 1-0 to rivals, Cameroon.

In an international friendly match on Friday, Nigeria lost to Cameroon for the first time in as many meetings but the loss was not as a result of lack of chances.

Speaking in a post-match media chat after the game in Vienna, Australia, Rohr who downplayed the scoreline and described it as “unimportant” lamented that despite the Eagles registering an impressive 17 shots on goal, only six were on target as against Cameron’s three shots on goal and only one shot on target happened to go in.

“We had 17 shots on goal and 6 on target while they had only three shots and the only one on target was a goal.

“Our domination was not good enough, it was not realistic enough because we needed to score at the beginning but we couldn’t. But we had a good atmosphere and good integration for some new players. Three of them played for the first time for the Super Eagles.

“The result is not the most important thing in a friendly, the important thing is to learn and see some interesting things, to test some new players and for the competition to be efficient in what we want to do in September World Cup qualifications,” he said.

Rohr bemoaned the withdrawal of 8 key players from the double-headed friendly, he however lauded the team for not giving up and maintaining the image of the game.

“It was a test and we are very happy to see some new players. We missed 7 to 8 key players and we have to manage the situation.

“These test matches are meant to give chance to the (new) players. Of course I will prefer to play with my best team and to prepare them for the World Cup in the same condition but it was not possible because too many players could not come.

“The team did the maximum, they gave a good image of the football because they never give up. The victory is not the most important thing in friendlies.

“It is important to learn, progress and be ready for the competition.”

Super Eagles will once more battle the Indomitable Lions on Tuesday in the same venue for the return leg.