The appointment of Joseph Yobo as one of the coaches of the senior national team of Nigeria didn’t come as a surprise to many considering his former role as captain of the team.
He also rank among one of the longest serving players in the team and also had an illustrious football career in Europe. Many were as expected happy to see the legend back in the team.
News broke out almost immediately that Yobo who replaced Imama Amapakabo in the coaching set up of the Nigerian team was appointed without the knowledge of Gernot Rohr, the man he is meant to assist. This much was confirmed by Rohr.
Among other things Rohr lamented the exit of Imama and for the first time revealed that Yobo doesn’t have the required certification to be a coach yet despite playing at the highest level.
He encouraged Yobo to embark on a coaching course but in came the coronavirus pandemic, which placed a halt on most major activities around the world.
Rohr however handed Yobo , the role of Imama and Salisu Yusuf, two of his former assistants and it involves scouting of players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Checks around several league venues after 17 round of matches has it that the former Everton man hasn’t been seen around any league venue since the start of the season in sharp contrast to Rohr who has been to four different venues.
Furthermore even images posted by the League Management Company (LMC) of national team coaches watching the game via television has almost every member of the technical crew of the Super Eagles bar Yobo.
Rumors of a disconnect between Rohr and Yobo surfaced after the friendly games against Algeria and Tunisia respectively leading to a reduced role for Yobo who according to reports complained to the minister of Sports during a meeting with the NFF.
We gathered he told the minister that Rohr initially welcomed him but after the first set of games, the German left him with no role in the team as he wasn’t carried along in decision making.
As things stands, Yobo is merely a member of the technical crew on paper but in practice he has no specific role to play as part of the crew.
