Connect with us

AFCON

Garba Lawal rules Super Eagles out of Afcon title contention

Published

on

Following the unfolding events regarding the coaching of the Super Eagles, former international, Garba Lawal has ruled Nigeria out of contention in the Africa Cup of Nations which kicks off in 42 days time.

The former Nigerian midfielder who last featured at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt 2006 spoke to Egypt publication, kingfut.  He hinted at the dismissal of Gernot Rohr as the national team’s head coach ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is set to take place between 9 January 2022 and 6 February 2022 across five cities in Cameroon.

Nigeria were drawn in Group D alongside Egypt, Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau.

With the tournament starting in around six weeks, every participating team should be preparing for the upcoming event; However, rumors started to spread about the departure of Nigeria national team manager Gernot Rohr.

Garba talked about the topic and shared his thoughts on Nigeria’s chances in the tournament and his hopes for his national team.

Advertisement

“The national team’s manager dismissal might happen, but at this moment, no one knows what will happen for sure,” Lawal said.

“Right now he’s still in Nigeria, but who knows what might happen soon, he could be replaced by another coach.

“The most important mission for Nigeria is to qualify to the World Cup in Qatar. We will participate in the AFCON and we have a good team but I am not sure we can win it.

“The fans are not satisfied with the current generation, we have a lot of good players that play in Europe, our main goal is to qualify to the World Cup.

“There will be no easy games in the last stage of the World Cup qualifications, small teams have knocked out stronger ones before.”

Advertisement

Lawal was then asked about Mohamed Salah, to which he replied: “Salah is one of the best players in Africa, he sure is special, the whole world acknowledges his talent, and on the personal level he has a great character as well.”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

Continue Reading
Advertisement