Super Eagles’ head coach, Gernot Rohr has acknowledged that his team will find it tough playing against Egypt in their first match of next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, and affirmed that his players must be ready for the game.
While also noting that they will also fce a testy time against Sudan in their next game of the competition in Cameroon, Rohr posited that it is very important that they start well from the first fixture.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Rohr went on to note that Egypt have a strong pedigree in the competition, where they have a record number of titles, while Sudan have transformed under a new French coach that is his friend.
While not writing off the Eagles’ third group opponents, which happens to be largely unfancied Guinea Bissau, the Franco-German tactician concluded that he and his players have to prepare themselves adequately in all aspects of the game in order to go all the way to the final.
The former coach of Girondins-Bordeaux of France as well as the national tams of Gabon, Niger Republic and Burkina Faso added that he will do everything to map out how to curtail expected fiery form from The Pharaohs and how to contain their star player, Mohamed Salah.
Pooled in Group D against Egypt, Guinea Bissau and Sudan, the three-time African kings will begin their campaign against the North Africans on January 11 at Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua, and Rohr is already thinking of how to stop the continent’s two-time player of the year.
The Eagles’ gaffer admitted he holds a lot of respect for the Liverpool of England star’s quality, but concluded with a verdict that his players would be able to prevent the 29-year-old winger from wreaking havoc on his side when they face off next year.
The 68-year-old Rohr further confessed that he originally wanted to avoid the Egyptians, but went on to assure Nigerian football fans that his team will prepare well and be fully focused in order to make the best of their outing at the competition especially in their opening match.
Rohr told ESPN: “It is a big challenge to play against Egypt in the first game and a player like Mohamed Salah. It is a big challenge for all our defence and also for all our team.
“We will defend collectively against him of course, and we are growing together since a few years now and I believe our defence is able to be efficient against such a fantastic player.
“We have a tough group. Egypt, everybody knows and everybody wanted to avoid. But they are with us, it is okay. Sudan also.
“They have a French coach, a friend of mine, who did a good job since he arrived there, coming out from a difficult group. Also, Guinea Bissau is not easy.
“I would like to win against the first two teams, and then I can bring in the third game, as I did in the last AFCON, the substitutes, and give rest to our starting players from the first two matches.
“If we win the first two matches it is not a problem, we are qualified and then we can change our team. But of course, nobody will be underrated, and we are not afraid of anybody.
“I think that the most important is to start well the competition. We will be very, very well prepared. We need to be ready for this first match against Egypt in Garoua.”
