Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has demanded a positive response from his players when they take on defending champions Cameroon in Saturday’s AFCON 2019 Round of 16 clash at the Alexandria Stadium, reports Completesports.com.
The three-time champions suffered an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to one of the competition’s debutants, Madagascar in their final Group B game last Sunday.
The defeat ended the Eagles’ run of nine consecutive games without defeat in the AFCON finals.
It was also the first time the Super Eagles lost to the Barea’s in five meetings.
Rohr’s charges have struggled to impress in the competition, recording slim 1-0 wins against the Swallows of Burundi and Syli Nationale of Guinea.
The German tactician believes it’s time for his team to prove their quality in the competition.
”We have this little advantage that they (Cameroon) played on Tuesday and we played on Sunday. So let us try to have an advantage physically and also mentally because everybody wants to do very well now,” Rohr stated in a short video interview on the Super Eagles Twitter handle on Thursday.
”There is something similar, we lost 2-0 at home to South Africa, and then there was a Cameroon game. Now, we lost against Madagascar 2-0 and it’s again Cameroon, so it can be a good omen, I hope so.
”Everybody wants to do well, especially after this disappointment against Madagascar. We changed the team, we wanted to play with some other players to keep them in the rhythm of the competition.
”Now the best team has to start and to do the best to make Nigerians proud.”