The coach of Benin Republic, Gernot Rohr has stated that he hopes his team will be good opponents against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in today’s AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
Rohr who made the remarks while speaking with the Nigerian media on Friday stated that it is important for him to know the conditions before the AFCON qualifying game because Benin Republic lost the last time they played in Nigeria.
The coach stated that the loss the Benin Republic faced in the last game against the Super Eagles in 2019 is the motivation for them to come to Nigeria and do better than the last time.
He said; ‘’For me it’s important to know the conditions, we had a good travel here, they were here in 2019 and they lost, so it’s a motivation for them to come here to do better, ” he told a press conference.
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‘‘As a coach, it is an advantage to know the opponents, but it does not mean it will be easy.
‘‘We know they have the better players, we don’t have the players in the big clubs like Nigeria. As a team, we have young players now, and I’m very optimistic that we can do something better.
However, the 71-year-old coach says that the Super Eagles are favourites to win the match but he has backed his team to give a very good account of themselves.
‘‘We have our chance tomorrow (today) because we know we are outsiders, but even to be an outsider can be an advantage,” Rohr stated.
‘‘I hope that tomorrow the team will be able to be a good opponent for the Super Eagles.” He added.