The forthcoming FIFA Mun­dial double headed cracker with Central African Re­public (CAR ) first leg came up last Thursday (Two Days Ago) with the list of players positioned for the match look­ing awesome on paper; even though, some few key players of the team have been ground­ed by injuries in their various clubs in Europe ruling them out of the cracker. But it’s in­teresting to note that Gernot Rohr has made some wonder­ful replacement for the in­jured players to prosecute the match.

If what we have on paper, according to football pun­dits, is anything to go by, then, Rohr is set for anoth­er victory against the team from CAR. I have always been harping on the coach to endeavour to groom a regular team for the coun­try that will be reliable, formi­dable and consistent anytime the team has a competitive en­gagement, whether at home or away! Having said that, Rohr has been managing the team anyhow and in any form suit­able to the best of his knowl­edge. And, perhaps, no matter how you will want to evaluate him, the German born coach has been getting results. This is true to the fact that he has been qualifying the Eagles for major tournaments. The out­come of such Championships at the end, nonetheless, is an­other keg of wine!

Yours truly is very much aware that the Eagles, in terms of tourney qualifica­tion, have never been found wanting in recent times. They have been consistent in qual­ification but have never been consistent in representing Ni­geria well in most of all the tourneys! I believe this is the major flaw of Rohr. It’s only a team with character moulded into a matrix of consistency, accuracy, purposefulness, discipline and the ability to recognise team mates always on the pitch of play that can change the fortune of the Ea­gles at the big stage proper.

It’s not the paperwork team list, analysis of one good play­er discovered here or there that will buttress the success of a team; that, on its own, is a mirage. When “Unknown Players” gather together within few days for a crucial match, it’s not a guarantee that victory will be attained. It doesn’t matter the venue of the match, whether it’s being played at home or abroad, you will surely differentiate a team from a group of strange players, who just gathered to form a team to prosecute a match in a jiffy!

If we have already built a team around strong twen­ty-five team players or more including goalkeepers, I don’t see any reason each time some members of the team are hit with injury, the coach will be scampering for players from left to right to fill in the gaps. And in doing this, the coach is even bringing in a player(s) that has never featured for the national team. So, in this case, the coach is invariably inviting unknown legs not even to play in friendly; but in a competitive match, which could be disastrous. From my point of view, that method is the “gambler’s” style of filling in the gaps!

Although, the match had been played, won and lost on Thursday. This column has been written before the exe­cution of the game; therefore, my candid opinion here is that Rohr must rise above the mediocrity of this “Fire Bri­gade” approach of injecting “unknown” players into the team for crucial matches like this, hence, he needs to breed a team that could take care of emergency and when it’s con­venient to play at all times.

Thank God it’s a world with­out end. Amen. Good Morning Nigeria!