President of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick has disclosed the country’s football governing body will not sack Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr despite calls for his immediate ouster.
The Franco-German came under fire following his side’s disappointing run of games, including a back to back draw in the AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone this month.
Rohr, who recently signed a new two year contract as coach of the Super Eagles, took charge of the team in 2016 and has since guided the three time African Champions to the 2018 World Cup in Russia and a third place finish at the AFCON in Egypt.
While many Nigerians have questioned Rohr’s ability to read games and thus, know the right substitutions to make, Pinnick, had come in the defence him, highlighting the stats of the Super Eagles since he took charge of the team.
“Nobody is happy about what happened against Sierra Leone in both matches,” Pinnick told BBC Sport Africa.
“But it is not enough to sack the coach because his team is still top of the Nations Cup group after four matches.
“His statistics speak volume for him, so on what indexes do we want to sack him considering the contract recently signed by both parties.
“No matter how emotional and disappointed the fans are, there’s no basis to sack him now and he deserves to keep his job.
“When you look at his performance, where he has won 29 matches, drew 14 and lost 10, you can say that is enough to back him.
“Yes, the performance in the last two games has not gone down well with some people, but we need to be professional, honest and respectful in how we analyse things.”
The Super Eagles still maintain their lead on the top of Group L of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying table with eight points from four games.
