Gernot Rohr finally reacted to being snubbed by Amaju Pinnick during the bronze medal presentation at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, and according to him it is nothing serious.
The Super Eagles coach debunked claims of a possible rift between him and the NFF President following the video which went viral after the medal presentation.
“Yes, I saw it (video), somebody sent it immediately to me, the people did not understand (what happened),” Rohr told Sports Extra.
“Ask the president (Pinnick) why he did it, I didn’t do anything, I wanted to shake him. So you must ask him why he did it. I watched the video again when Victor Ikpeba was here (his hotel), we were laughing about it.
“The president did not explain to me but I know exactly what happened, because I was the last one on the stage. Before me was Tunde, my assistant, who wanted to receive the medal from Pinnick and Pinnick said, ‘No, no, I will start from you (Rohr).’
“There was Constant (Omari), CAF vice president, and he was happy to see me and took me in his arms and gave me the medal, I could not say no. I didn’t even know that Pinnick wanted to give me the medal with him, nobody told me.
“But I heard it after because Pinninck told Tunde that he wanted to present the medal to me, so he was a little bit worried about this situation.
“But I only understood it after. He (Pinnick) went to Constant and asked why he gave me the medal because he wanted to give it to me. But I understand that it was joy for him to give me the medal because we had face-to-face conversation in Cairo, where we could speak about all these problems.
“So, there was no problem between us at that moment, the misunderstanding was unfortunate," he added.
Gernot Rohr also disclosed that he took a photo standing next to Pinnick after the incidence, but wondered why it never went viral like the video.
“I joined the players for the photo (session), I stayed on the stage and said, “President, come (and join us).’ The photographers could see us (Rohr and Pinnick) behind the players but I didn’t see all these photos, they only shot this video, so many bloggers here in Nigeria.”
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