Gernot Rohr reveals that he has turned down offers from other teams because he believes in Nigeria

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has revealed that he has turned down offers to coach other teams as he wants to continue managing the Nigerian national team because he believes that the young squad has a lot of future potential.

Mr Rohr, 64, took over managing the Super Eagles two years ago and qualified them for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, introducing a plethora of new faces to the team as he rebuilt. At the tournament, Nigeria got knocked out in the group stages after conceding a dying minute goal to Argentina in the last game but in the main, the team improved with each performance in Russia.

With the 2019 African Nations Cup around the corner, Mr Rohr's next task is the qualify the team for the tournament and on September 9, the eagles will face Seychelles in a qualifier. Speaking just after he released a team list of 24 invitees for the match, Mr Rohr said he had to shun offers from other countries after guiding the national team to a successful World Cup qualifiers campaign.

 “I got good offers from countries who were at the World Cup but in the end, I decided I want to continue working here in Nigeria. I like the team we have here and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has made the environment very conducive for me, so I don’t see any reason why I should leave now.

“I hope this team will be better in future and it is important to continue the good work we started,” Mr Rohr added.

Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will have three training sessions on an artificial turf to familiarise themselves to the conditions of the pitch they will play their Africa Cup of Nations 2019 qualifiers against Seychelles on September 7. Coach Gernot Rohr not wanting his wards to feel like fish out water in Seychelles confirmed that the Eagles will train on the artificial turf so that they get used to the conditions.

He added: “We have a good team going into the match and we are confident going to the game against Seychelles. We have invited four new players to beef up the team, who are Jamilu Collins, Semi Ajayi, Kelechi Nwakali and Samuel Kalu.

 “All the new boys will add quality to the team and I want to see goals, victory, a team playing with motivation. The major objective is to see a team that gives joy and entertainment."