Rohr On Super Eagles AFCON Squad : 'We Have A Young Team Without Any Stars'

Published: June 15, 2019

Gernot Rohr is confident that the Super Eagles will qualify for the knockout rounds of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, even though he has stated that there are no marquee players in the squad.

Compared to other teams, Egypt have in their ranks Africa's finest footballer Mohamed Salah, Senegal have Liverpool's Sadio Mane and Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly, Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez has been named to Algeria's roster and Crystal Palace wing wizard Wilfried Zaha is heading to his second AFCON with Ivory Coast.

Next Saturday, the Super Eagles will do battle with Burundi in their Group B opener before games against Guinea (June 26) and Madagascar (June 30).

''I think we have a young team without any stars. There are not many great players like Nigeria had in the 80s or 90s but our young team will be able to come out of the group and to try to go far,'' Rohr told DW Kick off.

Rohr spoke of the challenges being faced by up-and-coming footballers in Nigeria today and complained about the lack of infrastructure.

''The grassroots is very important especially for Nigeria. Nigeria has so many young people who like football so much. They must have opportunity to play.''

Ifeanyi Emmanuel