Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr is extremely delighted to see his side beat defending champions, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, in their AFCON 2019 Round of 16 fixture at the Alexandria Stadium on Saturday.
The West Africans edged out Clarence Seedorf’s men 3-2 in a tightly contested encounter at the Alexandria Stadium.
The win eased pressure on Rohr who saw his side went down to a shock 2-0 loss to Madagascar in their last Group B game last Sunday.
Odion Ighalo put Nigeria ahead in the 19th minute after his effort in the box bounced off the legs of Yaya Banana and trickled into the net past Andre Onana.
Stephane Bahoken equalised for Cameroon in the 41st minute, while Clinton N’Jie put the Indomitable Lions ahead two minutes later with a well executed finish past Daniel Akpeyi.
But the Super Eagles fought their way back into the game in similar fashion with two goals in three minutes.
Ighalo completed his brace in the 63rd minute before he played in Iwobi for what would turn out to be a winner by the Arsenal.
“We wanted to avoid this kind of tough game by finishing top of our group, but we could not do that .I am extremely happy with the victory,” Rohr told a news conference after the game.
“We conceded two goals through our lack of concentration. During the halftime break, we spoke about not giving up. We had an advantage over them as we had two days extra rest and we are also used to the pitch.”
The German tactician also spoke about his team’s potential quaterfinal opponent Egypt who are one of the favourites to win the
“We beat them through a spectacular goal last time when we played them in a friendly with Paul Onuachu scoring after seven seconds,” he added
“It will be an interesting game and we will see a full stadium after playing in front of small crowd here in Alexandria. We still have to wait to see who will be our opponents between Egypt and South Africa.”
