TheCable

Gernot Rohr, Super Eagles of Nigeria head coach, says his team’s lack of goals in the double-header friendly games against Cameroon was due to the absence of key forward players.

Nigeria fired blanks in both games against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Austria.

On Friday, the Super Eagles lost 1-0 to Cameroon. They also played out a goalless draw against the Indomitable Lions on Tuesday.

Speaking after the match, Rohr acknowledged that “it was not easy” playing Cameroon with several of his forward players missing due to injury.

He also hailed the performances of those who participated in the exhibition games, exulting their endurance after a long season with their respective clubs.

The Franco-German added that despite the underwhelming performance against Cameroon, the Eagles are prepared to begin their 2022 World Cup qualification campaign later in the year. 

”We didn’t want to concede a goal we wanted to score but we could not and when we are missing players like [Victor] Osimhen, [Joe] Aribo, [Samuel] Chukwueze, [Samuel] Kalu, Henry [Onyekuru], it’s not easy,” Rohr said.

“But they [players] did well, we had a lot of chances in these two games we couldn’t score but the match today was interesting.

“It was the last match of the season for a lot of the players, they came in the middle of the holidays to work hard for 10 days with us and the fruits of the work will come and I think we will be ready in September for the World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape Verde.”

Super Eagles will host Liberia on September 1, before travelling to Cape Verde four days later.