The head coach of the Benin Republic national football team and a former coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr has claimed that the Cheetahs were more disciplined than the Eagles after their historic 2-1 victory over Nigeria on Monday in a 2026 World Cup qualifier played in Abidjan.
It will be recalled that the Cheetahs inflicted a blow to Nigeria’s ambitions of resurrecting their qualifying campaign at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, with two goals from Jodel Dossou and Steve Mounie after Raphael Onyedika had given Nigeria the lead.
As a result, Benin moved to the top of the group with seven points, leaving the Eagles to languish in fifth with just three points after four matches triggering the fear of missing a consecutive World Cup after 2022’s failure.
In the post-game interview, Rohr added that his team was more organised as they had the desire to score more than the Super Eagles.
“These players always have solidarity. The belief is strong and they can score goals as well.
“I think we had the right organisation, they scored the first goal and perhaps believed it was already done but the reaction and the desire of my team was so strong that they could come back in the game,” Rohr said.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles have apologized to Nigeria over their poor run so far in the qualifiers.
In a tweet on the team’s official handle, the Super Eagles promised to fight hard to ensure that Nigeria pick the ticket to the World Cup finals.
“We have had talks among ourselves and have resolved to fight hard till the end to ensure we do the impossible which is qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.”
The Eagles will be back in action for two more games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers by March 2025 when they visit Rwanda on March 17 and host Zimbabwe on March 25.
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