Former Super Eagles coach who is now the Benin Republic head coach, Gernot Rohr has stated his side will go into Monday’s clash with the Super Eagles as underdogs but will go for the win.
Benin Republic host the Super Eagles in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on matchday 4 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Monday, June 10.
Benin will go into the fixture on the back of a 1-0 win against Rwanda which place them in third place on four points.
The Super Eagles, meanwhile, are yet to record a win after drawing all their three games and are in fifth place.
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.
Rohr said in his pre-match press conference:
”Nigeria is a great team. We are the underdogs but we will play tomorrow to win.”
Nigeria’s Coach Finidi George knows the implications of another dismal outing in the qualification. While signing the contract to take over from Portuguese gaffer, Jose Peseiro, he was told point blank that qualifying Nigeria for the 2026 World Cup was not negotiable, considering the fact that Super Eagles were absent at the last Mundial in Qatar
We’re very much aware of why we are here (in Abidjan) and what we have to do. The players want to go to the World Cup and they have resolved to give their all in every game going forward. We had our opportunities against South Africa on Friday and should have won, but that is gone and we face another challenge now.
“We have resolved not to look too far ahead in this race. The essence is to take it one match at a time. Benin Republic is in our front now, and we must deal with that squarely,” He said.
