Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Barely a month from now, Nigeria is scheduled to host South Africa in Uyo to begin the Group E journey to the 32nd Cup for African Nations (AFCON) to be hosted by Cameroon in 2019. Only the winner of the group automatically qualifies. The second placed team would vie with 11 other second placed teams for ONLY three additional qualifying places! Thus, making it to Cameroon 2019 is not a piece of cake as many may assume. Unfortunately, most Nigerian fans are focused on the two World Cup qualifying matches against Cameroon that come up in August and September. Though coach Rohr has repeatedly stressed a focus on the AFCON game against South Africa, focus itself has become significant challenge. Nigeria being so close to reaching the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia has sharpened the focus of both players and fans on August against Cameroon and not on June against South Africa. Media have reported stories of players reassuring fans that the team would qualify for the 2018 World Cup an...

Nigeria's manager, Gernot Rohr, began his tenure unbeaten in four games against Tanzania, Zambia, Algeria, and Senegal. It is an impressive start with just one tie in four games. However, is this the best ever start by a Nigerian manager? To answer the question, we examine the records.  The records indicate that Rohr's start, while impressive, is no where near the most impressive start by a Nigerian manager (see Table 1). In fact, Rohr's current performance ranks 13th. He will need to keep an unbeaten slate in the next six games to hold the mantle of the best start for a Nigerian manager. That is surely a steep hill to climb. Can he do it? It is certainly possible. After all, three previous Nigerian managers began their first nine games unbeaten with Augustine Eguavoen being the latest to achieve that feat. The others are Johaness Bonfrere and Jorge Penna. However, Gernot Rohr's first four games have included three competitive matches! That is just one internat...