After recording back to back wins over Seychelles and Egypt in four days, Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr believes his team is 69% prepared for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Super Eagles defeated the Pirates of Seychelles 3-1 in their final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match in Asaba last Friday and edged Egypt 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to a wonderful strike from Paul Onuachu eight seconds into the game.
“The match was a great match for us and when you play a great team like Egyptwhich for me are one of the favorite for the AFCON and win it’s good,” Rohr said in his post-match interview.
“All the time we must improve but let us enjoy this wonderful moment.”
“We scored a wonderful goal. Tomorrow we will analyse this game and go back to work on the team we have to make them better. I think the team is 70% ready but I like the number 69.”
“We decided to make a fast start. It was a planned goal from the kickoff. We have a tall striker from Denmark (Onuachu), he did very well but he has to improve still.”
“We made five changes with two local players making their debut. It will be good for them and their career.”
“What was interesting for me also in Asaba was that we had three wonderful victories. First, we beat Seychelles they the U23 team also trounced Libya and now we beat Egypt. So it was a good week for us.”
Rohr who qualified the Super Eagles for the AFCON tournament billed to hold from June 15th to 13th July in Egypt with a game to spare having missed out on the last two editions also ruled out inviting new players to the team ahead of the forthcoming AFCON.
Rohr recently handed debut invitation to Paul Onuachu, Valentine Ozornwafor, Ikouwen Udoh and David Okereke to the senior national team but assured that he will continue to scout for more players for the team.
“Window for new player invitations to Super Eagles is closed. We will continue to scout but no new invitations for Africa Cup Of Nations.”
Meanwhile,the Super Eagles of Nigeria will play two friendlies in the next FIFA free window in June in preparation for the tournament. The next FIFA free window is billed to hold from June 3rd to the 11th, according to the FIFA calendar for 2019.