Rohr: Why Super Eagles Beat Tanzania By Just One Goal

By Kayode Ogundare in Uyo:

Photos by Ganiyu Yusuf:

Technical Adviser of the Nigerian senior national team the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr, has provided an insight into why his team were only able to win Saturday’s dead-rubber 2017 AFCON qualifying match by a slim 1-0 margin despite the avalanche of scoring opportunities that came their way, Completesportsnigeria.com reports.

He said: “We are a new team and just getting to know each other but I know my players have the quality to play good football. We played against Tanzania who put many players behind the ball and we needed time to break them down.”

The Eagles dominated play for long spells but, despite coming close on several occasions, were unable to break down the Taifa Stars until Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho produced one moment of brilliance to drill his shot inside off the underbar with just 12minutes left to play.

Rohr also pointed at the unusual brilliance of the Tanzanian goalkeeper Aishi Mawula as partly responsible for the low scoreline.

The Azam FC of Tanzania goaltender was in such fine form that he practically stood between the Eagles and goal, pulling off one top-drawer save after another.

“Their goalkeeper was excellent. He denied us many opportunities to score. But our quality is not in doubt,” the German tactician said.