Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr is already looking forward to their quarter-final clash against South Africa, saying his side are on course to win this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Rohr inspired his side to a 3-2 win over the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday at the Alexandria Stadium to set up a last eight clash with the Bafana Bafana on Wednesday in Cairo.
The coach said they would maintain the humility they employed after the shock loss to Madagascar in the group stage but his team have shown they have the character that would make it tough for any side to stop them now.
“We have our objective for this competition, although you could not say we were going to win,” Rohr said here in Alexandria.
“But of course my young team have shown they can win this tournament with a performance like today (Saturday). AFCON is a difficult tournament; we have so many strong teams here. We have reached the quarter-finals and we are going to play against a very tough South Africa team, but we are going to take it one game after the other.”
He added that Bafana Bafana were a very strong side who showed their character with the way they beat his side in the opening game of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers in Uyo.
“South Africa were very difficult opponents in our group in the qualifiers; you remember they beat us in Uyo but my team responded very well to qualify for this tournament. They have shown they are a very team when they beat Egypt.
“We are going to prepare for them; for now, we want to recover and we will go into training,” he added.
The German praised his players’ attitude in the match, insisting their doggedness ensured they warded off the Lions’ challenge.
”This victory was a difficult match, everybody knows Cameroon have a very good team,” Rohr explained. “We dominated in the beginning, scored a good goal and then in the end of the first half there was a lack of concentration and Cameroon got their goals.
”In the second half, we tried to have a better organisation in the midfield and also to believe in the victory; players were disappointed at half-time but my young team did not give up and continued to fight.
”We had better organisation in the midfield in the second half. I must say that we had two days more to prepare for the match, towards the end of the second half we had a little bit more fitness than them.
”Congratulations to the Cameroon team, to have a good football match you need two good teams.”
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