The Eagles team has become an undisciplined and disorderly lot under Rohr.</sub>
The falling standards, laissez-faire attitude of some players, and player power are some reasons the <a target=”_blank” href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Football_Federation”>Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)</a> is looking for a solution to the position of Super Eagles manager, currently held by Gernot Rohr.
Many instances, especially in the Qatar 2022 World cup qualifying rounds, have shown that some players in the Eagles squad no longer respect their manager enough to keep to agreed rules and regulations in the way and manner the players should conduct themselves on national assignment.
This situation got to a head in the match against Cape Verde when the Eko Hotel camp of the Eagles was turned into a harem and carnival venue.
A shocked Ahmed Musa, Eagles captain , at the complacency of the coaching team in curbing the wanton indiscipline, made his angst known to some NFF members, who on investigation, found players like Kelechi Iheanacho, Kenneth Omeruo, and Chidozie Awaziem missing from their rooms after the time agreed for them to turn in.
This behaviour is not new in camp, with <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.premiumtimesng.com/sports/football/496103-agreement-between-nff-rohr-in-the-offing.html”>Rohr</a> in full knowledge of what was happening under his watch, but he was not resolute nor decisive enough to put a stop to it by banning or fining the errant players.
Another observation during the halftime interval in the match against Cape Verde was that the coach did nothing about the melee that broke out between Leon Balogun and Jamilu Collins. This disagreement almost came to fisticuffs, but none of the technical team took control to quell the situation.
It has also been revealed that Balogun, Joe Aribo, Maduka Okoye, and William Troost-Ekong have deliberately missed flights that have cost the NFF extra in getting replacement flights to ensure they make the Eagles squad for matches. This was the reason Rohr benched Okoye for the match against the Central African Republic, which the Eagles lost 1-0 on October 7 with Francis Uzoho in between the sticks.
Player entourages were also a constant distraction with Rohr unable to lay down the law, a situation the NFF believes will hamper the chances of the team at the 2022 AFCON and in the last World Cup qualifiers in March.
Another argument for Rohr’s dismissal was his total dependence on a particular set of players, irrespective of whether they trained as hard or better than anyone else in their position.
Both parties-the NFF and Rohr- are trying to work out an amicable solution between themselves while insiders say the NFF is already interviewing for the soon-to-be-vacant job.
The All Africa