Nigeria’s Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, secured a 3-1 win over Algeria in a 2018 World Cup qualifier earlier this month , after playing some mind games with the players.
The German reportedly told his squad that the North Africans were better than them and also went ahead to put up pictures of their opponents in the team’s meeting room.
Rohr psychological challenge was also helped by his match reader, who incidentally has previously worked with Algeria coach, Georges Leekens.
“Rohr is the great psychologist. He challenged the players to bring out their best against Algeria by openly telling them the North Africans were better than them,” an official told AfricanFootball.
“His mind game also included having the photos of all the Algerian players pasted in the team’s meeting rooms so much so that by the time they met these same players on the pitch on match day they already knew them.
Another team official added: “When Leekens got to know that the match reader was on the Nigeria bench, he knew it would be very difficult for him to outfox Rohr.”
The Eagles are currently top of their group with six points, while Algeria are bottom with one point.
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