Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr is happy to have won his first Africa Cup of Nations award with Nigeria, Sports Extra reports.
The Super Eagles crushed the Carthage Eagles 1-0 in Wednesday’s third-place match with Odion Ighalo snatching the match only goal following three minutes.
The success was the eighth time the Eagles are recording a success in the third-place coordinate in the same number of games.
“I am happy to have won my first AFCON medal,” Rohr said at a post-match press conference at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo on Wednesday.
“It was a hard tournament. But the future is very bright for my team. We have a lot of young talents coming through.
“I told my players that it would be better to end with a win than a loss. We were disappointed at not making the final but ending with a win is a good thing.
“We conceded some goals in the tournament, due to some mistakes and we have to work on those individual mistakes. But I am happy that each and every player in my Super Eagles squad of 23 played.
The German likewise lauded his side’s psychological quality during the competition, demanding that they showed a decent frame of mind.
“What was good in my team, during this tournament, was the mental strength of my players. We lost to Madagascar but came back strongly against Cameroon. And even after our loss in the semi-final, they had a good attitude for the match of today (on Wednesday).
Rohr likewise saved exceptional commendation for his retiring chief, Mikel Obi, for the job he played at the competition.
“We have to thank Mikel Obi for the career that he has had with Nigeria. It’s very important we do that. He may not have played throughout the tournament, but he played his role as captain,” Rohr continued.
“We have to salute Mikel’s great career, he didn’t play in the qualifiers but it was good for the team that he is here. Now we have to look at others but we don’t have many midfielders in top clubs
“We have Semi Ajayi, Iwobi, Etebo, Ndidi but we have to work hard to find a replacement.
Mikel capped multiple times by Nigeria reported during the competition that the 2019 AFCON would be his last appearance for the Eagles.
He likewise communicated disillusionment at the knee damage his top marksman, OdionIghalo, supported in their third-place prevail upon Tunisia.
“We are depressed with Ighalo’s injury and we wanted to win the bronze medal to make him smile. It’s a knee injury, he was supposed to return to his Chinese club after today but he can’t now.