Indications have emerged that the Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is favourably disposed to the hiring of another expatriate tactician to replace Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles coach.
Following the vacant position of head coach of the Super Eagles after the expiration of the contract of the former coach, the NFF recently placed an advertorial for interested coaches to apply for the plum job.
Interestingly, over 40 coaches, both local and foreign, are said to have applied for the position that many Nigerian football stakeholders now feel should be occupied by an indigenous coach.
Former Nigerian internationals, Emmanuel Amuneke, Finidi George who served as assistant coach to Peseiro, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Salisu Yusuf assistant in the days of Gernot Rohr and Sylvanus Okpala are among Nigerian coaches who have applied for the job.
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Micheal Nsien, a Nigerian coach who is currently handling the USA U-17 and U-19 national teams, is also in the race for the juicy position.
One-time Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Portuguese coach, Antonio Canceicao is the foreign manager who is said to be highly favoured to land the Super Eagles job.
Nigerian football stakeholders led by a former Green Eagles captain, Chief Segun Odegbami, have said one of the ex-Super Eagles players should be assigned the responsibility of managing the Super Eagles since the country’s over-reliance on foreign technical advisers has not yielded the desired results.
However, an influential member of the NFF Technical Committee who spoke on condition of anonymity has said what the Super Eagles need right now is a sound foreign technical adviser who will not only impact positively on the senior national team but help in developing other aspects of Nigerian football.
He reiterated that there is nothing wrong with hiring a foreign coach, but whoever is coming must be a world-class coach with a track record of achievement as manager of a renowned football nation.
“I have nothing against indigenous coaches, but I will say that the person we need at the moment is a foreign coach with the prerequisite experience to handle the Super Eagles. He must be the type of coach who will come and support in the overall development of our football.
“The Super Eagles as presently constituted are too big for the indigenous coaches that Nigerians are clamouring for. They are not bad coaches, but they are not yet at the level that they can effectively handle the senior national team.
“If you talk to most of my colleagues in the committee, they will tell you the same thing. Most of us are for a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. I believe the NFF will see reason with some of us on this matter,” said the powerful member of the NFF Technical Committee.
It will be recalled that the Technical Committee met recently in Abuja to scrutinise the applications received by the football federation after it advertised the vacant positions of the head coach of the Super Eagles and the Golden Eaglets.
