As Super Eagles of Nigeria prepare to face Poland in an international friendly match today, the coach of the national team, Gernot Rohr, is eager to avoid a defeat that could be partially attributed to the absence of team captain Mikel Obi who will be absent because work permit issues at his club in China has held him back.
It should be recalled that The German’s first defeat in a competitive game since his appointment as coach in 2016 was against South Africa, an occasion where he was without his captain, but the 64-year-old is hopeful his team can avoid another slump.
In the pre-match comment, Rohr said, ‘The only game we lost when the captain was not here was against South Africa in June, I hope that this time will be better."
Expecting other senior players to step up, the coach said: "But we need a leader and John Obi Mikel is our uncontested leader but it’ll be interesting to see how the other players can do without him.
We’ve been playing like a team and we have other players who can take responsibility. We have a second captain, a third and a fourth captain, so, I think the team will be able to give a good answer and also play the game as we want.’"