Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr has confessed that he did not rest any player for Tuesday’s final Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho simply because he used the match to kick-start his preparations for the 2022 World Cup qualification campaign.
While many Nigerian fans and analysts would have preferred three home-based players and some fringe lads from overseas clubs get into the Eagles’ starting line-up for the game at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, considering that the Nigerian squad had already qualified for Cameroon 2022, Rohr insisted he was not ready to toy with any match.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, instead of taking his chances by allowing three home-based players previously untested lads get a run around in the Eagles’ first competitive match back in Lagos in 20 years, the Franco-German gaffer opted for most of his regulars, and he is not apologetic about it.
In the wake of his side’s stunning 3-0 win, Rohr stressed that he never contemplated fielding understrength or weakened side versus Lesotho, though it was a dead rubber tie and the Eagles had an unassailable lead atop Group L regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s game.
The former coach of Girondins-Bordeaux of France, Niger Republic, Gabon and Burkina Faso went on to clarify that he is already thinking of the road to Qatar 2022, with his team set to return to camp at the end of May for their opening games against Liberia and Central African Republic in June.
Rohr expatiated: “I want to field the best team, we are already preparing now for the World Cup qualifiers that will start in June. End of May we will be here again to prepare and play the match against Liberia at first.
“Then we go to Central African Republic. Already it’s a preparation; we don’t have so many games so I cannot give a chance to play to everybody. There’s already space to see other solutions like we saw in Republic of Benin.”
