Former Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr said the result of Thursday’s 2026 World Cup qualifying match between Nigeria and Lesotho at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, was a bit surprising to him.
But his South African counterpart Hugo Broos disagrees saying the Crocodiles of Lesotho are no pushovers even as they are lowly rated. South Africa, Rwanda, Benin Republic coached by Rohr, Zimbabwe and Lesotho are drawn in same group C.
Nigeria was expected to easily brush aside Lesotho and take charge of the group table, but there draw now require them to get a result against Zimbabwe on Sunday, as South Africa and Benin Republic square up on Saturday.
“You know that I spent some years in Nigeria and we played even here in South Africa in Johannesburg against Bafana Bafana so you always have an eye on your former team,” said Rohr ahead of the game against South Africa.
“I was suffering with them, I saw that they attacked without scoring a goal. They had to wait for a corner and a header from the big player Ajayi.
“We never believed that Lesotho could earn a draw in Nigeria but they did well and showed that they are able to have a word in this group also.
“Normally, you should win this game in Uyo in a wonderful stadium, but like you saw all is possible in this group, there can be a lot of surprises and this was already one of them.”
But in his assessment of the match in Uyo Bafana Bafana coach added: “I always said that this was not the worst but a tricky group.
“We’ve seen the results of the past few days. They’ve shown us that I was right when I said that. All (two) the matches were draws and certainly the draw of Nigeria was not a surprise. Therefore again, winning at home is very important.”
“People are always talking about rankings, this is a big and that, you know every game against those teams is difficult. You saw Lesotho’s result. They’ve never had so many big defeats.
“When they lose a game 1-0 or 2-1 but not 6-0 like I saw in the game between Egypt and Djibouti, 6-0. You see that with those teams (like Lesotho). That means they’re tough games and we know that it will be a tough game on the other side (for Bafana against Benin).”
Newly apponted South African national football team head coach Hugo Broos answers media questions during a press conference at the South African Football Association (SAFA) House in Johannesburg on May 12, 2021 following his recent arrival in the country. - Broos signed a five-year contract with SAFA and is tasked with qualifying for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP) (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)