According to Gernot Rohr, Amaju Pinnick's decision to fire him as the previous head of the Nigeria Football Federation is to blame for the Super Eagles' inability to go to the World Cup.
After he assisted the Super Eagles in reaching the World Cup playoffs, the NFF sacked the 69-year-old German coach in December. In the interim, Augustine Eguavoen took over as technical director.
Due to the away goals rule, the two-leg playoff between Nigeria and Ghana was moved to Qatar under Eguavoen.
Now, Rohr claims that the Super Eagles would have advanced to the international competition that gets underway on Sunday if he had been in charge of the team during the playoff round.
“Pinnick said my dismissal will avert a disaster, but in the end he created the disaster that cost Nigeria the ticket to the World Cup,” Rohr told Eagle7FM Sports Radio in an interview as quoted by Completesports.
“I regret that I did not take my team to win the World Cup, I regret my players will not be at the World Cup even though they deserve to be there. It was not my decision, it was a decision by Pinnick and his board.
“He was punished for this as Nigeria lost the chance to win the Afcon and did not qualify for the World Cup. I hope he takes better decisions now as a member of the Fifa Council.”
Rohr was fired, so he missed the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations, which was held in Cameroon at the beginning of January. Nigeria lost to Tunisia 1-0 in the Round of 16, and didn’t move on to the next round.
On Thursday, the Super Eagles will play a friendly match against Portugal at Jose Alvalade Stadium. Portugal is going to the World Cup.