Gernot Rohr has reacted to Super Eagle ’ s loss to The Bafana Bafana of South Africa at the Godswill Akpabio Studium in Uyo.
Apparently, Rohr looked very sober after his team went down 2 goals to nil at home to the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
For a man who was yet to taste defeat after over eight straight matches, the loss to South Africa was like an anti – climax in his effort to build a young team for Nigeria . Yet he remained resolute in his support for his team .
“ We had a fantastic first half. It was just that the boys could not convert their chances . And it is not nature to blame any single player for a loss . We played a very young team whose age average was 23, the youngest team in Africa. Because of their age , when they are winning , everything is fine but when they are losing they get frustrated. It is always like that with a young team .”
Obviously aware of the team ’ s lack of experience, Rohr refused to admit that the team missed the services of the likes of Mikel Obi and Victor Moses .
“ I don ’ t want to search for excuses and say we missed this player or that player. We played the best we could and we lost. We can ’ t win every time . We can take some positives from this result as well . ”
He absolved goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi from blame , saying the goals conceded were as a result of the failure of the whole team .
“ It wasn’ t his fault . He had a difficult game . Like the second goal was a gift . Only one player was at the back and under such a situation , what can the goalkeeper do? It was a loss by the whole team .”
