TheCable

Gernot Rohr, Super Eagles head coach, has admitted there is “a lot of work to do” on sharpening the team’s attacking play.

The Franco-German spoke with reporters after Nigeria’s 2-0 victory over Liberia on Saturday.

The Eagles had relied on two penalty kicks from Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa to pick the important points against the Lone Stars.

The Liberians were able to neutralise the Nigerian attacking mechanism, which produced a paltry number of chances.

Regarding his team’s reliance on dead-ball scenarios, Rohr said although he is happy with the victory, he “would always prefer to score from open play”.

“The game was not easy for us, and we knew before that it was going to be difficult like the first match that we played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos,” the Franco-German said.

“We tried to play our football with a few touches and going vertically forward but our opponents were well organised and made a big fight, so we also needed to fight very hard to accept the duel in the air and on the ground, but I must admit that it was not easy.

“We are happy with the victory because we knew it was going to be a tough game. We got two penalties but we were not able to score a goal from open play. If you ask me, though, I think those two penalties were very clear but I would always prefer to score from open play.

“I admit that we really need to work on our attacking play, there is still a lot of work to do.”

Nigeria will host Cape Verde at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Tuesday for a vital last game of the penultimate round of Qatar 2022 qualifiers.

Eagles must secure at least a draw from the encounter to progress to the final round of qualifiers.