Shortly after Sunday Oliseh ‘abandoned’ the Super Eagles job in 2016, Dutchman, Jo Bonfrere, wrote a letter signifying that he was ‘the right man to return Nigeria to the summit of African football. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ignored him.
With the pressure now mounting on the NFF to sack coach Gernot Rohr over the team’s poor performance in the race to Qatar 2022 World Cup, Bonfrere, has again, dispatched another letter to Nigeria, stating that he has the magic wand to turn things around.
“I can come on a rescue mission to resurrect the Super Eagles,” it was stated in the latter, which allegedly emanated from Jo Bonfrere on Thursday night.
“It doesn’t take up to two months to create a formidable team and make a winning pattern,” he said.
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Bonfrere led the Super Eagles to the African Nations Cup in 2000, where Nigeria lost in the final to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun in Lagos. He was sacked in 2001 after losing a World Cup qualifier in Sierra Leone.
Before then, Bonfrere was assistant coach to Clemens Westerhof between 1990 and 1994. He led Nigeria’s U-23 team to win gold at Atlanta ‘96 Olympics.
About 20 years after his sack from the Super Eagles, Bonfrere feels no one has done what he achieved.
“I will be happy to have Daniel Amokachi or Emmanuel Amuneke to be part of my technical crew,” he said. “I will bring licensed and experienced coaches in addition to the mentioned names to be part of the team to train the players in their movement, fitness, positions and abilities. After this is executed, the whole of Nigeria will be watching the national team play while drinking champagne because it is guaranteed that Nigeria is winning the match.”
Bonfrere stated that the current Super Eagles team has no effective formation, and the players don’t understand themselves.
“The players can’t hold the ball to themselves for up to three seconds. I am not trying to castigate my colleague (Gernot Rohr), but his knowledge needs to be upgraded to the new modern football. In this era, the Super Eagles have to have a pattern. When I was the coach, it is guaranteed my players score a goal and more with respect to the kind of formation and pattern I use.
“There was no such thing as a tough team for Nigeria then. Rather, it was Nigeria who was the tough team, and I remember in 2002 Ghana versus Nigeria everyone could see the impact. Also, when Senegal was leading Nigeria by a goal, I brought in Julius Aghahowa and we were able to turn the scoreline against Senegal. In the U-23 national team, we played against and won teams who Nigeria Super Eagles today see as threats like Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, etc.
“It was so embarrassing to see Central Africa Republic, a country that doesn’t have its own stadium, to come to Nigeria and win the Super Eagles. The kind of pattern the coach use matters a lot.
“For instance, in the last game against Cape Verde, the Super Eagles played the match like they were away. With the quality players present on that day for Nigeria, it was so sad the coach could not make good use of them,” Bonfrere stated.
Guardian
