Shut up, Amaju! – by Frank Ofili

I can’t even begin to understand NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, attempting to take out, on our players, the disappointment of Super Eagles calamitous 4-4 loss to Sierra Leone.

Yes, it was 4-4 loss!

In his post-match talk with the players and technical crew, Pinnick practically exonerated coach Rohr from the defeat, when he said that left to him, some players will never again be invited to the Super Eagles. Indirectly, Amaju was dictating to the technical crew.

Let Amaju be told clear, that the Super Eagles have good players, and they played well yesterday against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City. The players took their chances and put 4 goals beyond Leone Stars goalie.

The Super Eagles team collapsed from its 4-1 advantage at the start of the second half due to the tactless, visionless, clueless and laid-back approach of coach Rohr. The coach lacks game management skill. He is neither tactical nor strategic in his approach to games.

Now and again I watch the Super Eagles gift their advantage to the opponent. In the 2018 World Cup group stage match against Argentina, Nigeria needed a draw to progress to the 2nd round and was already at 1-1 with Argentina at 86 minutes.

But what happened? Due to coach Rohr’s poor game management, Argentina’s Marcus Rojo came from defense to score the one goal that broke our Super Eagles back. All because Rohr made questionable decisions.

At 1-1 in the 85th minutes, instead of instructing the players to wind down the time and kill the game, Rohr urged them to attack more. When he chose to make changes, instead of removing attackers, and throw in defenders to help kill the game, Rohr did the opposite. He threw in more attackers. And Rojo came up with that sensational low volley that gave Argentina the victory and sent the Super Eagles back home.

I saw Rohr display, yet again, that same poor game management yesterday. Just like he did against Algeria in the final match of AFCON 2019. Algeria won that final match and lifted the trophy. No thanks to Rohr.

So Amaju should please not blame Super Eagles players for the 4-4 loss to Sierra Leone yesterday. Amaju should please blame coach Rohr. He should own up to the fact that he and his gang hired, for the Super Eagles, a coach who is tactically deficient.

Coach Rohr will not take the Super Eagles anywhere. With Rohr at the helm of affairs, Super Eagles will not win any laurel. On the contrary, the Super Eagles is enriching coach Rohr’s credentials without gaining anything from the coach. Super Eagles is a big brand any coach would be delighted to coach. At the moment, Rohr is the only beneficiary of the relationship with the NFF and the Super Eagles.

Amaju Pinnick must take responsibility for the rapid retreat of the Super Eagles from its zenith in 2013 under late coach Stephen Keshi. Left to me, Rohr should never have been hired in the first place.