With 11 points, Eagles will land in Russia —Rohr

Nigeria head coach, Gernot Rohr has said that 11 points from the ‘Group of Death’ will make the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2018 World Cup final.

“I think we need 11 points to be first of the group, but all the teams have a good chance to qualify [for the World Cup],” Rohr said at a press briefing in Ndola after Nigeria secured a 2-1 win over hosts, Zambia in a group opener.

“We all know that it is very difficult to win a game in the qualifiers, especially away in the first game. But we did it.”

The Franco-German tactician further said that despite the Eagles’ winning start, they needed to improve before a November 12 clash against Algeria in Uyo.

“We have a lot of work to do. We have some problems and we have to be better in some situations defensively and even offensively we tried too much to play [vs Zambia]. We did not shoot but we got the three points and welcome Algeria in a month in Uyo,” he said.

Rohr said Sunday’s game was one of two halves with Nigeria dominating in the first 45 minutes, while the home team took charge after the interval.

“It was a good game of football, both teams wanted to win. In the first half we got what we hoped for, we played well and we scored,” he remarked.

“In the second half, Zambia were the better team and that reflected in this match – first half for us, second half for them.

“We were a bit tired in the second half because of a lot of physical effort in the first half. The players ran very much, hot weather, 2.30pm in the afternoon, it’s not easy to play in the sun and in the second half, the wind blew in favour of the home team.

“They pushed, pushed and they scored and could have been 2-2, but we defended well because spirit of the team is very good, we supported each other.”