World Cup Qualifiers: Rohr, Eagles Must Not Flop In Douala Against CAR

BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – Coach Gernot Rohr and the Super Eagles have every reason to make amends for their Thursday’s shocking loss to a Central African Republic side with no meaningful footprint in African football.

With probability, superior quality, and secure footing on his side, the German coach cannot afford to fluff his lines again in Douala today, Sunday, facing the Central Africans.

Aside from the Eagles being on a revenge mission against Raoul Savoy’s Wild Beasts at Japoma Stadium, team captain, Ahmed Musa would also be hoping to mark his 100th international appearance with a victory against the hosts. Musa earned his 99th international cap having featured in Thursday’s 1-0 defeat against the Wild Beasts.

Boasting an impressive away record in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Super Eagles are unbeaten in their last 19 matches to date. Their last defeat was against Angola on June 20, 2004, when Fabrice Akwa’s 84th-minute effort subdued Nigeria inside Luanda’s Estadio da Cidadela.

Expectantly, this stat is expected to boost the Eagles’ confidence still shaken from their shock home loss in the first leg. The morning after Thursday’s shock defeat by the visitors in Lagos, many Nigerian fans had problems waking from the very bad dream.

And expectedly, much fuss has been made of the fact Nigeria had previously not lost a home World Cup qualifier for 40 years, an entire generation witnessing the Super Eagles defeated on their own patch for the first time.

However, even that piece of momentous history paled in comparison to the standing of the victor concerned; 1981’s defeat to Algeria stung and scarred, but it did at least come to the side that had contested the Africa Cup of Nations Final a year prior, and that would stun the mighty Germans a year on at the World Cup in Spain.

For today, football followers are hoping that the surface in Douala will offer more security underfoot, and make execution easier for the Super Eagles. The Teslim Balogun Stadium’s pitch was and has been a handicap, albeit a self-inflicted one. Creation is a more difficult, more precise action than destruction, and so on Thursday, the bumpy terrain was an ally of the CAR players. But this may not be the case in Cameroon this Sunday.

Of course, that is one solution of many possible. What is clear is that there is no hiding place for Coach Rohr who must execute something different in Douala to bring smiles back to the faces of many disappointed Nigerian soccer fans.

Having two extra days of swotting under his belt, the German now faces probably the sternest examination of his time in charge of Nigeria, but from the unlikeliest of sources. – With Goal.com