Benin Republic head coach Gernot Rohr says he has started dreaming about guiding the Cheetahs to the FIFA World Cup after their shock 2-1 victory over Nigeria on Monday, Soccernet.ng reports.
Rohr, who remains Nigeria’s longest-serving coach, engineered a famous victory for Benin over the Super Eagles at the Félix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on matchday four of the qualifying campaign.
Sochaux FC midfielder Jordel Dossou and Stade Brestois striker Steve Mounié got the goals for the Cheetahs to overturn Raphael Onyedika’s 27th-minute opener for the Super Eagles.
It is the first time Nigeria’s senior national team has ever lost a match against Benin, since the two nation’s first official meeting in 1977.
The win sends less-fancied Benin to the top of Group C above former African champions South Africa and Nigeria, with six games remaining in the series.
After the thrilling encounter, Franco-German gaffer Rohr has revealed his desire to qualify Benin for the 2026 World Cup, a feat he managed with Nigeria at Russia 2018.
The victory against the Super Eagles of Nigeria has allowed the Benin people to start dreaming of watching the Cheetahs play at the World Cup for the first time in history.
“When I arrived in Benin they trusted me with a 3-year contract,” Rohr said, as per 24haubenin.
“I said we want to go to the World Cup, I did the World Cup with Nigeria in Russia, we had a very young team, the youngest in the World Cup in fact, and I want to do it again. We have to make the players dream, we have to make the staff dream, and why not?
“It’s true that there are favourites in our group, with South Africa and Nigeria who on paper are much better in the ranking above us, but we showed today that we could compete.”
Nigeria did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after sacking Rohr just before the 2021 AFCON and a few months before the final World Cup qualifying playoffs against Ghana.
