Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr says solidarity of the team made the difference in the opening 1-0 win against Burundi.

Odion Ighalo’s strike on 77 minutes gave Gernot Rohr something to smile about after a disjointed performance for most parts of the game.

Rohr attributed the performance to a virus the has hit the Nigerian squad in Egypt.

“It was a very difficult match for us because this team of Burundi is very organized. Olivier Niyungeko their coach is very experienced and they qualified in a very tough Group. They were unbeaten in the qualifiers.

“It was very difficult to score the first goal. If the goal is not coming quickly, you suffer and have to work hard to score and win the matches. Our plan was to bring on Ighalo when the other team perhaps give us more space. But the problem we had today was physical as many players were sick. The last two weeks there was a virus half of the team could not train. And they were tired. Musa was one of them as he couldn’t start first half. And yesterday we lost two players in training,” Said Rohr.

And Rohr explained that despite the struggle, he is happy with the victory and was confident that the Super Eagles will raise the tempo in their upcoming fixtures against Guinea and Madagascar.

“It’s good to win the first match its never easy. The second will also be difficult against wonderful Guinea and also against Madagascar. We try to give our best but Its good to start slowly and reach higher and higher and hope we have six more matches to play, ” He added.

Kelvin Trudeau Musako

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