A football enthusiast, Iorliam Shija, has advised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to learn from the Senegalese Football Federation that kept faith with Coach Aliou Cisse who recently led the Teranga Lions of Senegal to their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroon.
In a chat with Daily Trust, the Senior Special Assistant to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Archives, Research and Documentation, said the Senegalese Football Association’s patience with the coach is worthy of emulation.
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He said “After an illustrious football career, Aliou Cisse was appointed the Technical Adviser of the Teranga Lions of Senegal in 2015. He qualified the team for the 2018 World Cup and 2019 AFCON.
“The Lions were controversially ousted at the World Cup in Russia but he took Senegal to their second AFCON finals in 2019 where they lost 0-1 to Algeria.
“The football association didn’t sack him. The Football Association exercised absolute confidence in him. For eight years, he was allowed to build a team with a winning mentality. Now the Teranga Lions are champions of Africa.
“I am, therefore, calling on the NFF to learn to be more patient with coaches. Now that Austin Eguavoen and Emmanuel Amuneke have been appointed to lead the Super Eagles, they should be given enough time to build a solid team,” he advised.
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