Fortuna Dusseldorf of Germany goalkeeper, Emil Maduka Okoye has brought up another angle in support of the recent contract extension granted Super Eagles’ head coach, Gernot Rohr, as the shot-stopper disclosed that all players feel comfortable with the Franco-German gaffer, megasportsarena.com reports.
The 20-year-old shot-stopper affirmed that he is delighted with the decision of Rohr to accept all conditions put before him by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and agreed to extend his stay in charge of the Eagles, as he says all the players are more relaxed when they have him around.
He went on to predict that the team will now excel and perform even better under their latest dispensation with Rohr, with a verdict that they will achieve greater success under the 66-year-old former Girondins-Bordeaux of France and Bayern Munich of Germany defender, who has been in charge of the Eagles since 2016 and first renewed his contract in 2018.
Having led the side to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and then helped them finish third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nation in Egypt, despite missing the previous two editions in 2015 and 2017 under other handlers, Okoye is of a view that Rohr will be able to meet the mandate given him by the NFF to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and win the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon.
The German-born 20-year-old keeper, who moved to Dusseldorf in 2017 but has only played 22 Regionalliga West matches with their reserves’ squad since then, said he was happy to get his Eagles’ debut in a friendly against Brazil last October; after which he was part of the squads for the 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho.
He could have been in the team again for their next two matches, home and away against Sierra Leone in the same qualifiers, but the games were called off due to the outbreak of coronavirus and the mulatto shot-stopper, who started his career with Bayer Leverkusen in 2012, says he is eagerly looking forward to the end of COVID-19 and an opportunity to rejoin the Eagles.
His national team status has already earned him improved value, and he was at the end of last month in Holland for transfer discussions at Sparta Rotterdam, which Okoye admits is a step forward in his career, for which he is giving thanks to Rohr for helping him step up, hence his delight in seeing the coach get a contract extension and belief that he can reach greater height.
Okoye told The Punch: “I’m very happy with Rohr’s two-year contract extension. He’s a great coach and I think everybody feels very comfortable with him as a coach. He talks a lot to us players and always cares. With him as a coach, we can achieve a lot of things in the near future.”
