Nigerian coaches, sports editors endorse Eguavoen for Eagles’ job – Reject Peseiro | NN NEWS
The Guild of Sports Editors has urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to without delay empower Super Eagles interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen, for the forthcoming Qatar 2022 World Cup playoff in March against the Black Stars of Ghana.
The Guild noted that the time is too short for the NFF to start hiring a foreign coach for the task of qualifying Nigeria for Qatar 2022, adding Eguavoen has shown that given adequate support, he can return the Super Eagles to the summit of world football.
Rising from a meeting in Lagos at the weekend, the body, which is the umbrella association of managers of sports in the country’s major media houses, said through its President Tony Ubani: “Nigerians will not forgive the NFF if it bungles the country’s bid to qualify for the World Cup.
“Qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup is the most important task before managers of the country’s football. They must ensure that nothing goes wrong.
“The whole world saw in Cameroun that Nigeria’s problem is not hinged on lack of quality players. Rather, the country was held down by a lethargic system, which did not allow the players the opportunity to express their talents.
“Within a few weeks of taking over the team, Eguavoen unleashed the potential in the Super Eagles such that he was voted as the best coach of the first round at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroun.
“Although we lost, unfortunately, in the round of 16, Eguavoen has created a plank on which the Super Eagles can thread to success given the necessary support.
“We, therefore, call on the NFF to, as a matter of urgency, name and empower Eguavoen to start preparing the Super Eagles for the games against Ghana. Time is of the essence.”
The body also reminded Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, that qualifying and performing creditably at the 2022 World Cup is the biggest sports assignment facing the Federal Government this year.
“The minister should, therefore, provide the enabling environment for the NFF to prepare the Super Eagles for the games against Ghana,” the body noted.
“Fortunately, the Federal Government has the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja back to life. There are also other quality stadiums to host the Nigerian leg of the matches, so, the focus should now be solely on preparing the national team for the matches,” the body added.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Football Coaches Association, NFCA, has rejected the employment of a foreign coach and instead endorsed the interim manager of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen to remain on a permanent basis.
President of the NFCA, Isa Ladan Bosso, in a chat with Sunday SunSports stated that the body wants the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to do the needful by offering the former Super Eagles captain the job, pointing out that Eguavoen and other Nigerian coaches have proven that they are capable of doing the job.
Bosso stated that from history no foreign coach has won the FIFA World Cup. He pointed out that all the countries that have lifted the World Cup are indigenous coaches and that Nigerian coaches have a better understanding of the country’s playing culture.
“All the coaches that have won the World Cup are indigenes of their countries and the advantage is that they understand the playing culture of their countries. Only an indigenous coach will do the same for Nigeria and given the pedigree of Eguavoen, it is best that he is saddled with the job.
“We have seen the likes of the late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, Shuaibu Amodu win trophies for Nigeria and nothing says that other indigenous coaches cannot do better given the same privileges and support that all the foreign coaches were given. If Nigerian coaches have what other foreign coaches are given and in good time too, there won’t be any reason for them to be under pressure from players’ agents and scouts or foreign-based players for that matter.Bosso noted further that despite the short time Eguavoen was asked to take up the Eagles job, he performed and can do better if given the right conditions of service. “There’s a need for the NFF leadership to give Nigerian coaches a chance with all the necessary entitlements that goes with the office.”The NFF had announced that Portuguese Jose Peseiro as their preferred choice to take over as permanent coach following the sack of Gernot Rohr and was billed to be in Cameroon as an observer before taking over for the FIFA World Cup playoffs against Ghana.
(NATION)
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