Former Super Eagles interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen, has said he advised the Nigeria Football Federal, NFF, not to sack Gernot Rohr.
Rohr was sacked months ago and was replaced by Eguavoen who led the Super Eagles to the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
However, the outing at the AFCON 2021 was bad for the Super Eagles who crashed out in the second round after losing to Tunisia.
Eguavoen also failed to qualify the team for the 2022 World Cup holding in Qatar.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Eguavoen who was accompanied by former Super Eagles teammate, Victor Ikpeba, opened up on how he advised against Rohr’s sacking.
Ikpeba had first said, “Eguavoen was not in support of the decision to sack Rohr.”
Agreeing with him, Eguavoen added: “Yes, I complained about the timing as it was too close to the Africa Cup of Nations,” Ikpeba said.
Meanwhile, Rohr has said he would have done better than Eguavoen had it been he was not sacked.
“It was a big disappointment that the team (Eagles) could not qualify,” Rohr told PUNCH Sports Extra.
“Nigeria had the better players, but it was not enough to qualify because they did not work collectively as a team. Those who are responsible for the team must be asked to speak about this disappointment and why I was sacked as well because I would have done better.
“My compassion is with the players, the staff and all the fans who are so passionate. Qatar 2022 was our target since the last World Cup in Russia. For most of them, the World Cup in Qatar was their last chance to play.
“At least reach the quarter-final of the World Cup and give Nigerian football a good image as we had in the last five years.”
