By Babs Oyetoro
Nigerian football legend, Dr. Felix Owolabi, has expressed dismay at the comment credited to the German coach Gernot Rohr saying the senior national team lacked players in top clubs in Europe to win the World Cup.
Rohr was quoted as saying: “So what we have in Nigeria for example, we have our players in Fulham, in West Bromwish. It is not Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester United or Barcelona. But the other ones have their players there”.
Alluding to what qualifies a country to win the World Cup, Rohr cited the current World Cup champions, France, listing the team’s qualities thus: “France is the champion at the moment, where they are playing? They are playing in PSG, Bayern Munich. Four of them are world champions at their clubs also. “So, when you have so many of your players from your countries playing in the best teams in the world is very big”.
“We are not ready to win the World Cup, for several reasons. So, it would be a miracle if we actually win the World Cup”, Rohr told NewsCentral. But Owoblow as he was fondly called by his admirers disagreed with him saying his comment portrays Rohr as a defeatist already creating an alibi for failure at the forthcoming African Nations Cup in Cameroon.
Don’t put Rohr under pressure, Ike warns
The former Green Eagles winger recalled that Nigeria won the Nations Cup in !994 and went to Atlanta ‘95 Olympic Games to win gold medal in football till date remains the first African country to achieve this landmark.
He buttressed that in a football competition every team is a potential champion before you get to the final. “That is why you talk of under dogs and upset in football. It is not the team that prepares very well that wins the competition most times because there is element of luck too in sports. Also, the team must be sound technically and possess winning mentality as well”.
“Honestly, I don’t know this man problems. That is how he condemned the local players recently after watching the CAF Confederation Cup duel between Enyimba and Rivers United.
He seems not to understand the advantages in being the Super Eagles coach. Being a coach of the three-time African champions would beef up his coaching profile. He needs Nigeria more than we need him”, he said with remarkable equanimity.
