14 November 2024

‘They Will React’: Rohr Confident Eagles Will Beat Sierra Leone In Return Fixture

File photo:  Super Eagles Head Coach, Gernot Rohr, sits beside a Nigerian player at one of the dressing rooms at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

 

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr is confident Nigeria will beat Sierra Leone in the return leg of a 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifier after the 1994 AFCON champions threw away a four-goal lead to draw the first leg of the match. 

“So we are doing everything in training and in the meeting, we will do, we will see again everything in the video, speak about the mistakes and I’m sure they will react because I know my team, I know what we can do, they showed it in the first half,” the German said in an interview on the Super Eagles YouTube channel.

READ ALSO: ‘We Will Correct Our Mistakes In The Next Game’: Musa Appeals To Nigerians

It Is Finished? 

While explaining why the Nigerian team drew the first leg of the match in Benin City on Friday despite a four-goal lead, he said the players did not maintain the energy they used in the first half of the game.

“I think at half-time they believed it’s finished but it was not finished,” the former Niger Republic coach added.

He stated that the surprising draw against the Leone Stars is a lesson to the side, reiterating that “we will react, if they will be lucky or not I cannot promise you but they will fight and go there to win the match.”

A Big Mistake

File photo: Super Eagles players listen as NFF President, Amaju Pinnick addresses them after a 4-4 draw with Sierra Leone at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

 

The team captain, Ahmed Musa had earlier apologized to Nigerians for the result, promising that the Eagles “will correct our mistakes in the next game.”

“We know we made a very big mistake in the game but there is nothing we can do, that’s football. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose,” the former Leicester City star added.

The Super Eagles will travel to Freetown for the return leg on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.