Ndubuisi Okosieme, a former Nigeria winger has hailed the Nigeria Football Federation’s decision to retain Austine Eguavoen as Super Eagles’ interim Technical Adviser and discarded its earlier plan to engage an expatriate head coach.
The NFF has discarded its earlier plan to hire Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro, and extended the tenure of Austine Egiavoen as the NFF Technical Director/ interim Super Eagles Technical Adviser, to steer the three-time African champions past their West African archrivals, the Black Stars of Ghana, in the final round of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers. Emmanuel Amuneke has been contracted as the Super Eagles Chief Coach.
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1988 AFCON silver medalist, Okosieme, told Completesports.com exclusively that the NFF has toed the line of ‘continuity and belief in their own with Monday’s announcement of coach Augustine Eguavoen’s retention and bolstering of the Eagles’ technical crew with the addition of Amuneke.
“Senegal, who won the Nations Cup against favorites, Egypt, is being coached by an indigenous coach. Same Senegal under a homegrown coach eliminated Cameroon who is the hosts,” Okosieme told Completesports.com.
“No one knows domestic football and its players better than their own coaches. With belief and encouragement, just like Senegal FA did, the homegrown coaches will always deliver.
“On this premise, I’m delighted with the decision of the NFF to retain Eguavoen as the Super Eagles Technical Director/ interim Technical Adviser. I’m also happy with the entire combination of the Super Eagles’ crew which has experienced former international, Emmanuel Amuneke, as Chief Coach, amongst others.”
Okosieme added: “This is what we have been talking about overtime. Continuity is the spring on which success in sports revolves. We all saw the massive improvement in the Super Eagles’ play during the 2021 Nations Cup.
“Though it was painful that their best was not enough to take them to the title, but if they step up their game, which I believe they would, given the caliber of coaches now in charge, picking the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup ticket at the expense of Black Stars of Ghana won’t be a mission impossible,” Okosieme stressed.
In nostalgia, the former Flash Flamingoes of Benin winger felt Nigerians are not fair to Maduka Okoye who is being vilified in the aftermath of the Super Eagles’ 1-0 defeat to The Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the AFCON 2021 Round of 16.
“There were 11 players on the pitch. Before the ball got to the Eagles goal area, it first passed the other 10 players who ought to have stopped it. A team wins together and loses together. So why single Maduka out?,” Okosieme querried.
