Former Super Eagles’ winger, Garba ‘Chindo’ Lawal has come out with an emphatic prediction that the Nigerian national team will qualify for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although he admitted that the Eagles were disappointing in their last two matches of the AFCON 2022 qualifiers, as they gave up a four-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Sierra Leone in Benin City and then settled for a barren draw in the reverse fixture four days later in Freetown, Lawal stressed that he remains confident that the Nigerian lads will rise to the occasion and still qualify.
He added in his capacity as a member of the technical committee of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that no one is talking about sacking Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr, as he acknowledged that they have to see out all terms of his contract, which is billed to run all the way till the summer of 2022.
Rather than talk about the possibility of Rohr getting the sack, the former Julius Berger FC of Lagos and Roda JC Kerkrade of Holland utility player added during Mega Sports on Star 101.5 FM, Lagos that the focus should be on how the Eagles can storm back to top form an win their last two matches of the qualifier.
That will be at home against Lesotho and away to Benin Republic, who are now second in the log of Group L, and Lwa is of a strong view that the Nigerian lads will put behind them their fumbles against Sierra Leone, as they aim to put their qualification hopes back on track, and he submitted with a verdict that they will make it to Cameroon 2022.
Lawal declared: “We are not talking about sacking Gernot Rohr for now. We can’t be saying anything like that because we have to follow terms of his contract. What happens depends on his contract, and we have to follow the agreement we have with him.
“It is true, though, that the last two matches were tougher than we thought. We should have won in Benin City and even in Sierra Leone, but things did not go the way we planned. That is not to say that the players did not try. They all tried their best but it did not work.
“But, I remain confident of this team. I know that they will qualify for the Nations Cup. We have many talented players in our team and they will play better the next time. I am sure that they will play better the next time they come to camp. Let us support them and I am sure they will qualify.”
