Gernot Rohr has said the Super Eagles shock home loss to minnows Central African Republic was partly because they were without injured stars Alex Iwobi and Wilfred Ndidi.
Nigeria suffered their first home loss in a World Cup qualifier in 40 years after substitute Karl Namnganda snatched a late winner for the Wild Beasts of Central Africa Republic, who are ranked a lowly 124th in the world by FIFA.
“We missed the creativity of (Alex) Iwobi, we also missed Ndidi (Wilfred) so much,” a shell-shocked Rohr said after the match.
“It was not easy for (Frank) Onyeka and first-timer (Taiwo) Awoniyi to come to this team.
“We have to recover, and we have to make some changes in the team.”
Rohr, who has been in charge of Nigeria since 2016, said the team are very disappointed by this shock defeat.
“The players are still disappointed in the dressing room and still can’t understand why we could lose this match,” he said.
“We dominated possession of the ball, we had several opportunities to score, but we did not score and very often in football, there was a counter and our opponents scored.”
Both teams meet again Sunday in Douala, Cameroon, in continuation of the qualifying tournament.
That reason is flimsy and unacceptable by many football fans .