Nigeria beaten because my players young, tired – Rohr

Pius Ayinor

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr has claimed that Nigeria lost to South Africa’s Bafana Bafana because he presented a very young team which also tired out early in the game, Extrasportsnigeria.com reports.

The South Africans claimed a historic victory by defeating the Super Eagles for the first time in a competitive fixture after they deservedly won the game in Uyo, Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Tekelo Rantie and Percy Tau scored in the second half to give South Africa their first win over the Eagles, as they sit in second place in Group E of the qualifiers, following Libya’s 5-1 win over Seychelles.

He said, “First, my young team (the youngest of all the teams playing in the qualifying series) had a very good first half, they played well but they didn’t score. In the second half, the South Africans counter attacked us because our players were tired.

“We played against an experienced South African side. As you may have seen, in the first half, we lost plenty opportunities and my players tired out in the second half.”

The word of consolation from the German who suffered his first defeat since taking charge of Nigeria is that they hope recover from his shock in subsequent games.

“We made three offensive changes in the second half to add power to the attack. Going forward, we will make changes to the tactics.”