NFF won’t sack Gernot Rohr – Amaju Pinnick

by Graeme Jackson

Wednesday Jul 17, 2019. 10:16

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick insists that national team coach Gernot Rohr will not be sacked after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Rohr’s side were eliminated from title contention on Sunday night when they suffered a last-gasp 2-1 loss to Algeria in the semifinals.

The Super Eagles will wrap up their campaign with a clash against Tunisia in the third-place playoff in Cairo tonight (Wednesday).

Many critics in Nigeria have called for the German to be relieved of his duties, but Pinnick told Osasu Obayiuwana that this will not happen.

“Gernot Rohr will not be sacked as Super Eagles coach. He will remain in the job. I have complete confidence in him,” Pinnick said, as quoted by All Nigeria Soccer.

“Gernot has taken us to the semifinal, the target we set for him. Right now, we have a third-place match to play for and we intend to have our team leave Egypt with honours.”

Pinnick added that Rohr will undergo a refresher course at Bayern Munich to equip him with the latest coaching trends after the 2019 AFCON.

“There are some people that have been calling on me and the federation to sack Gernot. But I am not going to do that.

“In fact, Gernot is going on a refresher training period with Bayern Munich, after AFCON 2019. We have a long-term plan with him.

“We have had rocky and difficult moments in our relationship, but this is normal in any relationship between two people.

“He is a good coach and we want him to remain with us. That said, we will work together on what needs to be improved upon.”