Afcon Qualifiers: Eagles begin closed session for Benin

Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr has instructed the team to train behind closed doors in their final workout ahead of Friday’s departure for their crucial 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Benin Republic in Porto Novo on Saturday.

Nigeria will face the Squirrels of Benin behind closed doors at Stade Charles de Gaulle on Saturday before returning to Lagos to take on the Crocodiles of Lesotho on Tuesday at Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The players and their officials will depart Lagos for Cotonou on Friday morning.

Under the orders of Rohr and the Nigeria Football Federation, the media and public  were barred from attending  yesterday’s evening training session

“The training was okay,” The Franco-German tactician said. “It was a long training today because since it is Wednesday (yesterday), we still have a long time to recover so we wanted to work hard physically.”

“The weather was good as it was not too hot so we could train for one hour 38 minutes which is a long time for a training session.”

“It was a full training session with no injuries. We would have another session tomorrow (today) before departing for Porto Novo.”

Rohr also expressed his satisfaction with the state of the pitch at the Teslim Balogun Stadium ahead of the Eagles final qualifier against Lesotho on Tuesday, commending the stadium managers for a good job.

He said they were satisfied about the pitch as he explained how they have worked on it, which means they can now play football on it.

NP/Lateefah Ibrahim