Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr on Saturday said his immediate goal was to prepare three–times African champions Nigeria for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches.
Rohr spoke at a pre-match press conference in Singapore, ahead of Sunday’s clash with five–times world champions Brazil at the Singapore National Stadium in Kallang.
He explained that the high-profile friendly was an opportunity to test his team’s capacity and make adjustments where necessary before playing against Benin Republic and Lesotho.
“The game against Brazil will show how much we are progressing after finishing third at the AFCON in Egypt.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for us to learn a few more things that will make us better and stronger for future challenges.
“This is an important test game for us, and we are here to learn from the best. We hope for a very good game against Brazil on Sunday.
“This will help us prepare ourselves for the 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Lesotho next month,” Rohr said.
He also noted that the friendly would afford him the opportunity of testing new players in order to fill the void created by the retirement of some old top players in the team.
“After the 2019 AFCON, two of our top players (Mikel Obi and Odion Ighalo) retired and we have to see how to replace them.
“We saw a little bit in our friendly against Ukraine last month and hope we can improve on that performance tomorrow (Sunday).
“A good showing against Brazil will help our confidence a great deal,” the team handler said.
