It Is Difficult For African Teams To Have The Sympathy of Referees, Says Rohr On 2018 World Cup Penalty Incident

Nigeria was eliminated in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup after a win and two losses in their group. Nigeria lost the first game 2-0 to eventual finalist Croatia, beat Iceland 2-0 in the second game and lost the final game to long time foe Argentina.

Lionel Messi put Argentina ahead before Victor Moses pulled Nigeria back into the game from the spot but Nigeria felt they should have had a second penalty after Marcos Rojo headed the ball into his own arm but the appeal was denied and Rojo scored the 86th minute winner that eliminated Nigeria.

Rohr in an interview with Elegbete TV detailed the happenings in Russia and said by his standard was a good outing despite the group stage elimination and said the controversial moment that led to the team’s ouster was based on luck of African teams.

“It is difficult for African teams to have the sympathy of the officials,” Rohr said. “We had a clear penalty, a handball, which was not given.”

“We qualified for the World Cup unbeaten in a group that had Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia,” he added. “First game was against Croatia, a team that reached the finals. We beat Iceland through Ahmed Musa goals. The last game against Argentina, there was Messi. We had the youngest team [Average age of 23.8years], next time we would be better.”

Nigeria have been drawn in the same group with Liberia, Central African Republic and Cape Verde for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The winner of the groups will then play a two legged knockout tie against other winners.

Image via Getty