By Chidera Akalonu
Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr has declared that he would want the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to look elsewhere outside London for the team’s international friendly games.
Rohr was angry after the game against Burkina Faso scheduled for Monday in London was cancelled because of visa issues. It was gathered that the German said he would advise the NFF against the choice of London as venue for Eagles friendly games because of the stringent visa requirements by the United Kingdom embassies.
In place of the cancelled Burkina Faso tie, Rohr had to convert the time for the game to a training game among the players with more players of Nigerian descend plying their trade in England involved at The Hive stadium, home of English League Two club, Barnet.
The 63-year-old Rohr, when asked after the training game if Nigeria could stay away from friendlies in the U.K. in future, said: “Yes, yes, because it’s too complicated to get the visas, you know.
“I think it’s better to stay in Schengen, in Europe than go to London where the people have problems. Even some players in our team couldn’t come, you know. They didn’t get the visa in time.”
Rohr pointed out the positive aspects of Nigeria’s short trip to London, noting that the training exercise had given some members of the team an opportunity to play.
“We tried to find another team but it was too late,” the German said.
“We had one very good game against a Senegal team [that was] so strong, so powerful, we learned a lot. Now we look forward to our next games.
“The second game, between us, I could see everybody,” Rohr added. “Some players need to play because they don’t play all the time at their clubs. It was an opportunity for them.”