Benin Republic head coach Gernot Rohr says his side will go into Monday’s clash with the Super Eagles as underdogs but they will target a win.
Benin Republic will host the Eagles in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on matchday 4 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Rohr’s side will go into the fixture on the back of a 1-0 win against Rwanda which place them in third place on four points.
For the Eagles, they are yet to record a win after drawing all their three games and are in fifth place.
Looking ahead to the game, Rohr said I. His pre-match press conference:”Nigeria is a great team. We are the underdogs but we will play tomorrow to win.”
Rohr was in charge of the Eagles from 2016 to 2021 and qualified them for the 2019 and 2021 AFCONs.
He led the team to a third-placed finish in 2019 but was sacked just few weeks before the start of the AFCON 2021.
Also, he qualified the Eagles for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
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25 Comments
Hahaha my coach, I see you!
Under dogs my foot.
Rohr is playing mind games, trying to give us a false sense of security.
But beware, both teams have a good chance of winning this game.
Our advantage comes from us having superior players, but their advantage comes from them having Rohr, a coach who knows Nigeria inside out.
Our boys will need to dig deep tomorrow. Rohr will try to neutralize our weapons and keep us at bay. Fortunately for us, the match will be played on a neutral ground. Makes our task less difficult, compared to if we had to slug it out in Benin.
Finidi by now should know his best players. Now is not the time for sentiment or experimentation.
Make no mistake about it, we are attempting to take 3 points from a team that badly needs it, and from a coach NFF mistreated in the recent past! Rohr is highly motivated to beat us. They will not surrender the game to us. We must take it from them. We must subdue them.
Hoorah!!
Based on the dumbo coach recent press release defending undeserving serial and under-performers, it appears he might stick with a combination of Kelechi, Onuachu, and Iwobi in the lineup.
I accept the fact that Iwobi is more effective than the other two liabilities but he is at a point in his career where he needs to learn from his Uncle, be more assertive and stop his snail like display, poor shooting skills, and sideway passing.
The second half has proved what most
of us saw wrong in player’s selection,
you don’t win matches with skewed team
structure. Players like Alhassan who has improved from game to game should be integrated into the line-up. This guy came in and blocked the loopholes in the midfield. He even supplied the pass that almost lead to winning goal.
Our players should be made to understand they are as good as their last match. Let’s see if the daft coach will be humble enough to compensate performance and remove Godfatherism and paddy paddy from the
national team.
The daft coach is what you clamored for: ‘sink and die’ with our ‘own’…i wonder why u are raining abuses on him. It’s too early my friend. U swore to sink wit our ‘own’, so enjoy the ride. I hope u have bought the latest digital calculator for permutations hahahahaha…
I challenge you to prove that I swore to sink with local coaches. Between local coaches and European coaches,my preference is clear
I see you are sore loser,if i had the opportunity again, i would choose an active Finidi over serial loser and inactive Amunike.
Like I did support Rohr until he became Picnic boy. I gave Finidi the benefit of doubt but it’s becoming obvious that he’s no different from other local coaches.
I just hope we get a win tomorrow. God Abeg!!
Oga Rohr…. We know you…. A mind game playing coach…. You always talk less but delivers….. A result oriented coach…..
If you were at the helm, by now 9 points would’ve been in our cabinet…. We’ll not be thinking and hoping….. But our players agent wouldn’t allow we the real fans of super eagles breath….
They want us to be pressing calculator at the end of the qualifies, but no issues.
As it stands, we’ve a roockie coach that can easily be manipulated by men from upper chambers…. Yes….
I can’t imagine how a coach will go for Iheanacho that hasn’t been involved in LECEISTER city games after the AFCON over CHUKWUEZE that plays week in week out for AC MILAN.
A coach keeping Onuachu even when it was so clear that he offers nothing to the team but he spent over 75 minutes in the field when the likes of MOFFI and Boniface were present and fit.
Well I don’t have much to say after all I can’t bring back the water that has gone under the bridge…. FINIDI’s team selection forced us to a 1-1 draw against south Africa.
To this end, please OGA gernot rohr help us….. There’s nothing Benin republic will offer at the world cup…. One or two goals is enough please….
Please loosen your defense because we know what you can do in situations like this….. Nobody is challenging…. You’re the boss, we’re your boys….. We’re loyal to your government…..
A draw or lost means NIGERIA is out of the world cup….. Help us please…..
Forget about our arrogance and pride…. You’re the decider now….
I know we’ll soon start using calculator, permutation and combination as we use to do before you came and changed the narrative….
You made qualifying for tournaments look ordinary….
It was a stroll in the park to qualify for tournaments under your watch….
Infact,it was our birthright to qualify for tournaments with games to spare under your guidance…..here we are now biting our nails hoping south Africa doesn’t win their next match so Nigeria can top the group for the first time…..
Oga Rohr please help us Biko….. Give us 1 or 2 goals ASAP.
Thanks a lot
*** SHALOM***
lol Rohr pls don’t help us, pls Rohr humiliate Slim Shady tomorrow. Ogogoro master pls start Ndidi,kelechi, Iwobi and Dogo tomorrow. Bench Dele, onyeka , Olawoyin and Boniface. Stupid man using back door tribalism to destroy Nigeria soccer, Rohr will expose u tomorrow.
Coaches don’t play ball! Rohr was qualifying Nigeria because he has the best players. Let him qualify Benin for the WC and then you can say he is a very good coach. A coach is as good as his players.
Cut Finidi the slack, he was put in a precarious position. Paseiro drew 2 games that we should have won against minnows Lesotho at home and Zimbabwe. A draw by Finidi against South Africa wouldn’t have been a bad result if Paseiro had won our first 2 games. I believe SE will beat Benin today, but that does not guarantee we will get the WC ticket from the group.
Well spoken. You nails it. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Hahahaha….When we didnt qualify for 3 out of 4 AFCONs, we didn’t have good players…?
When we didn’t qualify for 2022 WC we also didn’t have the best players…?
Now that we are in 5th place in a group of 6 we don’t have the best players anymore right….?
Rohr doesn’t need to qualify Benin for the world cup to show he is 100 times better than your incompetent, unqualified overrated local guadiolas.
At 70 years of age he still got a job outside 3 months after his contract expired, something non of your local coaches can achieve at the moment….LMAOoo
Continue using Rorh and Peserio to find validation for Finidi…maybe it was Peserio that chose the video game line up Finidi put out for the SA game.
Wait till the SE does not qualify for a 2nd world cup in a row before common sense can tell you the difference between a good coach and one that isn’t….LMAOoo
I am very sure Findi (like his overrated colleagues) may not lose any match, yet would not qualify….LMAOoo, whereas a Rohr would lose to SA at home, draw 4-4 at home to Sierra leone, lose to CAR at home and yet top the group with points and games in hand…..LMAOoo.
If Finidi had won SA too, we would be no 1 in the group now, not no 5
They are already preparing excuses for failure ahead of time…..LMAOoo.
Dr Drey,
You will like this. When journalists asked Finidi why he invited the home-based players only overlook them, he said, well (to those clamoring for home based players), we will invite them. But we will not stop doing what we are doing (regarding match day squads).
hahahaha!
Hehehehe….they no the truth, those cowards. But they will never speak the truth.
I am sure, in the confined of his bedroom, Finidi goes…
“….A whole TD of the NFF and former coach of the SE never considered homebased players good enough for AFCONs or the WCQs when he was in charge, it is me (finidi) that should now destroy my career to please them….?”
Tony that’s my true. The same players Rohr had our own couldn’t use them to qualify for Qatar. I have this weird feeling that he might qualify Benin. Why don’t you wait until after today’s match.
Eagles will win today it’s high time players and coaches stop talking more than they deliver. Everyone should start playing team football we need results. More work less talk!!!!!
I believe it’s easier to beat super eagles at home than in away.
Eagles with come smoking against Benin today.
Good luck to the team.
My prediction is 2-1 win for eagles and Onuachu will be on the scorers list if fielded.
Finidi will add a huge feather on his coaching cap if he manages to mastermind a masterful finish against Benin this evening. I doubt that will be enough to placate his many critics but it will inject a fresh ring in a chain of positive results that will help propel Super Eagles to the World Cup.
We can’t escape it: Finidi is inexperienced. But the problem is not Finidi, it is the NFF who imposed him on us so one can only support him to succeed.
I having been banging on this drum that the nature of the football was beautiful. But, beautiful football doesn’t meet targets – pragmatic football at the core of that beauty yields success. But you can’t be pragmatic when giving yourself a mountain to climb to trailing to a needless early goal.
Thankfully, he has realized his shortcoming in this area. We hope to start well against Benin, like the fantastic second we played against South Africa,” Finidi said.
He further added: “The game against South Africa is now in the past. We have learnt from that.”
For me, the outcome of today’s game against Benin will show whether he has learnt his lessons. My message to Head Coach Finidi is simple: Nigeria cannot afford to concede first today. Beautiful football is cute but if it doesn’t lead to compelling victories then it is arrant nonsense.
I respect the player selection of coaches. Fans and media complained bitterly about the inclusion of Paul Onuachu in the starting line up. But, if it had yielded goals the complaints would have muted. Onuachu has paid his dues in the Super Eagles in his hunger and desire but I think he should be purely a bit-part player for Nigeria, only coming in late in games to steady the ship. As a starter, he seldom justifies his inclusion.
I like Finidi’s shapeless, fluid 4-3-3 approach. But it needs cutting edge communication approach, excellent recovery rate, impeccable understanding across the players on “who is doing what” and players being willing to cover grounds and fill in gaps vacated by others. This approach requires out-and-out wingers who can run at defenders to produce quality deliveries. Nwabili is bailing Finidi out with timely runs to intercept and to be a part time center back in providing additional passing channels.
Finidi is trying to inject the Super Eagles with the philosophy of “total football” that he picked up from the mecca of this approach – Holland. But he will jeopardise his own ambitions by selecting the wrong players for this high octane, pepetual motion, jelly brand of football. For me, players with restricted movements like Iheanacho and Onuachu will struggle to cover enough grounds to make a success of this philosophy.
Tanimu is good but he played it safe to focus more on the defensive aspects of his subroutine. A more adventurous pacy fullback will do that department justice.
In all, the task before Finidi today is to pick players who will connect with his strategy to fashion out the needed victory. Any other outcome will be a huge disappointment.
I always respect your write ups Deo but today I disagree with some of the things you said…..Onuachu has never been impressive in national team colors except when he scored against Egypt and Benin but in the last game, there was just no early indication that he was going to score which should have prompted Finidi to yank him off early in the second half. He played horribly. and has always so the fans were justified to criticize that starting move by Finidi….how many more chances does Onuachu need? after so many years.
My brother F.Fanatic, I did say, as a starter, Onuachu does not justify his inclusion. But as a bit part player, I think he deserves his place in the Super Eagles, similar to how Peseiro used him in the Afcon.
Nice write up@ deo
for me, though ı think the 4-3-3 could be partially functional for us, Going forward, I will try something else. We simply don’t have the wingers in the mode of Finidi(ironically) and an Amunike, that can put in the ball for the centre forward. Not Ckhukuweze nor Lookman. The closest we have to wingers are Simon Moses and Ejuke; and both aren’t that efficient neither.
From what we have in our disposal currently, I think we should go for a 4-2-2-2 because most of the aforementioned can actually play as an inverted forward.
Nwabali
Osayi Tanimu Ajayi Bassey
Ndidi Onyeka(Onyedika or Yusuf)
Samu Iwobi
Lookman
Boniface(Moffi)
let Ndidi play the box to box role as he does in Leicester. he has assist and goals in him. Just clearly and concisely define his role. And let Onyeka, Yusuf or Onyedika, whoever plays, be the destroyer.
But hey, I am not the coach, let’s see what he offers.
I wish them good luck because they will need it. Hoping for nothing less than victory.
Gotcha….I get what u are saying.
Nice write up@ deo
for me, though ı think the 4-3-3 could be partially functional for us, Going forward, I will try something else. We simply don’t have the wingers in the mode of Finidi(ironically) and an Amunike, that can put in the ball for the centre forward. Not Ckhukuweze nor Lookman. The closest we have to wingers are Simon Moses and Ejuke; and both aren’t that efficient neither.
From what we have in our disposal currently, I think we should go for a 4-2-2-2 because most of the aforementioned can actually play as an inverted forward.
Nwabali
Osayi Tanimu Ajayi Bassey
Ndidi Onyeka(Onyedika or Yusuf)
Samu Iwobi
Lookman
Boniface(Moffi)
let Ndidi play the box to box role as he does in Leicester. he has assists and goals in him. Just clearly and concisely define his role. And let Onyeka, Yusuf or Onyedika, whoever plays, be the destroyer.
But hey, I am not the coach, let’s see what he offers.
I wish them good luck because they will need it. Hoping for nothing less than victory.
Gotcha….I get what u are saying.
Pesseiro drew the first two matches and got time to develop a winning formation which Finidi was part of..
The problem with most fans is that we ignore statistics that is readily available but choose to be misled by delusions and arrogance.Ir’s tge reason the nff and it’s 99 thieves will continue to manipulate some of us.
It’s on record that Pesseiro got the team to the highest FIFA ranking position in a decade. Knowing fully well that Pesseiro has become a Waldrum with glowing support and could not be manipulated to dance to their tunes, the nff sold the nation a dummy. It’s obvious like the current nff, Finidi is part of Picnic’s project. Until, we restructure the nff and wipe off Picnic’s fingerprints, it will be hard to avert the looming danger facing our soccer.
Clear signs of a corrupt entity includes lack of accountability,
discriminatory actions i.e local players over those in Europe, inactive players over active players, recycling of underperforming players, lower ivision benchwarmer over top division starter..
Even Brazil with a much more advanced and funded league relies on top foreign based players in their national team.
Now that they have lost the game what’s the way forward?
Is there still any hope of qualification or we should go and be preparing for 2030 World Cup. Lack of experienced defenders and leadership finished the team in my own opinion.