Benin coach Gernot Rohr feels the attacks on Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro by the media in the West African country are unjust, saying they have now accelerated to a personal level to the former FC Porto coach.
This comes after Peseiro’s Nigerian side was held in two 1-1 draws in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers by the lowly-ranked sides in the southern region – Lesotho and Zimbabwe, respectively.
In both matches, Nigeria had to come from behind to get a draw, to save the blushes of the embattled coach.
Nigeria is lying third in Group C, behind South Africa with three points and surprise leaders Rwanda with four points.
These draws have seen the reaction in Nigeria go through the roof, with claims that the Nigerian Football Federation should get rid of Peseiro after the Super Eagles also missed out on the same tournament in Qatar last year.
To make matters worse, Nigeria has not won in the last five World Cup qualifying matches, which adds more pressure on the under-fire coach despite the star quality at his disposal.
“It is never good to make personal attacks on somebody,” said Rohr.
“He was not on the pitch, he didn’t have the best players – lots of them are missing, injured. You know them. One of the best strikers [Victor Osimhen of Napoli] is injured.
“So, he did his best. It’s not easy to play on the artificial pitch and play in Rwanda – it’s not easy. It is not easy to beat Lesotho, but that can happen.
“I have always had the solidarity with coaches who have problems.”
Rohr knows well the harshness of coaching the Super Eagles, as he was in charge for five years. He led them to the bronze medal at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt, beating Bafana Bafana in the quarter-finals.
Rohr also took Nigeria to the FIFA 2018 World Cup, but it was not a convincing showing, losing two of three group-stage matches to bow out.
The German tactician himself has collected a goalless draw with Benin against Lesotho in their second Group C match, which was played at Moses Mabhida Stadium in South Africa, where they lost their first fixture against Bafana Bafana.
