By Enitan Abdultawab 

When the group stage draws for the qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup on the African continent was made, it took a while before the realisation of two fierce clashes dawned on fans of the Super Eagles.

The Super Eagles find themselves in the same group as South Africa – rather not too surprising given that the South African are regular foes – Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.

The major talking point here is Benin Republic who are now being managed by former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr who was the gaffer of the 2013 AFCON winner from 2016 to 2021. The manager guided the team as the first African nation to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Recall that German’s parting from the national team was rather unceremonious. Rohr had, in 2020, signed a contract that could have kept him till after the 2022 World Cup. But there was a bitter scuttle laying wait as then NFF president Amaju Pinnick claimed that there was a need to sack Rohr to avert a possible “disaster” in the camp. This, he claimed, came off the heels of a collective interest of the sport committee because the squad was lacking discipline. 

The dismissal, however, came with its backlashes with controversies over salary arrears owed the German. 

Upon his sack, the former Bordeaux manager affirmed it was indeed a “huge frustration’ that he did not want to talk about and would have a “hard time” pulling himself together. 

What Does This Mean?

It remains to be seen if Rohr will show his former employers what they have missed in him as the Super Eagles haven’t really been in their best form since he left as they failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup which was held in Qatar.