Gernot Rohr was delighted to win his first-ever medal at the Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles, something he never managed to do whilst coaching Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Rohr pointed out that he has a special relationship with Tunisia coach Alain Giresse as they were teammates for close to a decade at French club Bordeaux.

''Yes it is my first medal in AFCON, Alain Giresse won against me when I was coaching Gabon and he was in Mali, in the quarterfinal (penalties), Aubameyang missed the last one, then he beat me in a friendly when I was in Burkina Faso so it was time now to win a match against him,'' Rohr said post-match.

''Like you know we were teammates for ten years at Bordeaux so we had very good moments together, then he left the club and we met again so many years after. It is good also in football this kind of meetings and this kind of friendship.''

The third-place play-off vs Tunisia afforded Rohr an opportunity to achieve one of his objectives at the Africa Cup of Nations, handing playing time to every single player named on the Super Eagles roster.

''It was a long tournament, we were together six and a half weeks plus the preparations. We had to manage some players who did not play so much but everybody played in my list of 23, all the 23 players played which is for me the objective because we have a good solidarity in the team.

''Even the three goalkeepers played, our young team has a good future. There are still some mistakes, our goals we conceded were individual mistakes, most of them, which means working with young players they will improve, that's why I am optimistic for the future with Nigerian football,'' Rohr added.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel