The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), yesterday, announced the reconstitution of Super Eagles’ technical crew, with Augustine Eguavoen staying as interim technical adviser and former national team star, Emmanuel Amuneke, drafted in as immediate assistant to Eguavoen. The federation has also jettisoned the idea of hiring Mr. Jose Poseiro as Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, saying recent events have compelled them to stick with Eguavoen for now. Amuneke is a member of both FIFA and CAF Technical Study Groups.
“The NFF board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee retaining Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim), while Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles. Salisu Yusuf will be the second Assistant Coach/Chief Coach of the CHAN team and Joseph Yobo will be third Assistant while Aloysius Agu remains the Goalkeepers’ Trainer,” NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, announced.
Sanusi added: “We acknowledge and appreciate the interest that Mr Jose Peseiro has shown in Nigeria Football during our very cordial discussions and have absolutely no doubt about his capacity. We believe that perhaps in the future, there could be an opportunity to work with him. However, in view of the positive performance of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations which has given hope to Nigerians and boosted our confidence in the present coaching crew to qualify us for the World Cup in Qatar, we have decided to accept the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee to retain the Eguavoen-led coaching crew and strengthen it with the addition of Emmanuel Amuneke.”
Meanwhile, a member of the NFF Technical Committee, Dahiru Sadi, believes the country will beat Ghana to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Sadi said he is glad the issue of who oversees the Eagles has now been settled with the technical crew moving into action.
“I was initially disturbed by the anxiety caused by the silence on the identity of the coach to take the Eagles to the World Cup play off against Ghana. This is because of our failure at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroun, where we lost out in the Round of 16.
“Now, I am happy that the issue has been settled with the approval of Coach Augustine Eguavoen to continue with the job, as well as the suggestion by the technical committee that Emmanuel Amunike should be part of the coaching crew.”
Sadi revealed that he was pleasantly surprised to see Coach Eguavoen at the Ilorin Stadium during a league match between Kwara United and Lobi Stars, saying such moves would help the coach unearth quality players for the national team.
“This is exactly what we saw Clemens Westerhof do when he moved round league venues to watch players by himself rather than depending on others’ reports. Truly, you don’t rely on information if you want to know a player’s ability. I think that is the best way to go if we must get our best players,” he stated.
