Yesterday, I watched my country’s senior national football team in utter dismay as they wobbled and fumbled in front of an ecstatic crowd cheering them to victory. Almost every Nigerian that walked through the gates of the stadium was confident of victory or at worse a draw. This reason for this can’t be farfetched with the non-losing streak of the team since the emergence of Gernot Rohr as coach of the national team.
It is expected for teams to lose no matter how long they play winning or drawing games. It is a normal phenomenon in sports and no coach, no team should be expected to win all matches in the game of football or any other sport. Nigerians knew a day will come when the team would lose under Coach Gernot Rohr, but the circumstances under which they did is what many will regard as unacceptable.
It was an evening when the team played like a disorganized set of fancy school boys. Their sluggishness, nonchalance, inaccurate passes, low creativity all summed up a dismal performance by the players. There was apparently no solid synergy at the midfield and no swift flow of the ball to attack and the coach’s inability to change the run of game with his second half changes would make many question his technical competency.
The blame game would continue for a while. From lack of good first team selection by the coach to the fumbling’s of the goal keeper and defence. In all the team was a sham.
It should be said that South Africa deserved the 2 nil victory in the Afcon qualifier and should be applauded for their first competitive victory against the Nigerian senior national team in the debut match of their new coach.
Nigerians wait to see what would be the response of the team in their next game against Cameroon for the world cup qualifiers. Victory we wish them.