BEVERLY HILLS, March 27, (THEWILL) – The Super Eagles of Nigeria, who arrived in Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin via boats from Ikoyi, Nigeria on Friday for the Saturday second leg qualifier of the TOTAL African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tie against the Squirrels of Benin left their lodgings in the evening for the Charles de Gaulle Stadium.
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Their preparations for the crucial tie involved a training session to acclimatise to the playing environment of the stadium and perfect strategies that they had already mapped out to prosecute the qualifier for victory.
They had all invited players ready, and together with the coaching crew, they moved to the stadium for the session.
However, after travelling for about an hour from Cotonou to Porto-Novo, the Super Eagles were made to train without the stadium’s floodlights and had to make do with only illumination provided by the moon.
Nigeria’s German coach later described the embarrassing scenario after the session in a video posted on Twitter by Oluwashina Okeleji.
“Even though it was very late, we could do a training session. Then, we missed the light, so the light was broken,” Rohr said in explaining the absence of stadium floodlights, “But we handled it. We had the full moon, so there is also moonlight.”
While it is premature to think there was foul play involved, it is unbecoming of the hosts to not provide appropriate lighting for their guests, who are in the country for a continental qualification game with implications for the AFCON tournament and, consequently, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar next year.
There is a lot that can go wrong when a contact sport such as football is played under conditions that are not ideal for the eyes and therefore dangerous for the body. Even if it was a training session, the reason it was considered important was so that the players can acclimatise themselves to the playing environment which was partially defeated in the dark conditions under which they trained.
However, an undeterred Rohr emphasised his side’s preparedness to take on the challenge of the Squirrels: “I feel good harmony in my team. Even if there are some problems, we are all the time positive mind.”
He acknowledged the enormity of the task facing the team when he said: “It’s a big challenge to win here tomorrow, because they didn’t lose a match since eight years. So, we want to do that. Everybody is fit, no injuries. And I hope that we can do what we want to do.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
