The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been in a serious hunt for a manager for a number of months following the sack of Franco-German Gernot Rohr.
Rohr was relieved of his duty as head coach of the Super Eagles after poor performance and severe calls from fans who found his game boring and uninteresting.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Monday announced interim boss Augustine Eguaveon as head coach of the team in an advanced interim role.
Eguaveon led Nigeria to a three straight victory at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, but could not pass through the knockout stages after suffering defeat in the hands of Tunisia.
Nigeria had already had an agreement with Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro to become the Super Eagles coach immediately after the AFCON.
But the performance of the Eagles in Cameroon convinced the NFF to have a rethink in the direction of Eguaveon.
BUT HOW WILL THIS DECISION AFFECT THE NIGERIAN FOOTBALL SECTOR?
Putting all eggs in one basket.
The Super Eagles can be said to be imitating Manchester United who have Ralf Rangnick as their current manager and awaiting the completion of his tenure as interim coach to assume office on a consultancy role.
This is two different pages as the Manchester United Man is occupying one position at a time and the Nigerian holding two offices at the same time.
The appointment of Augustine Eguaveon means that Nigeria does not have either a Technical Director, a coach, or both.
When Eguaveon is with the team, the Technical Director role is vacant and vice versa.
It is also meaning that the 57-year old will be earning from two perspectives (as a coach and as technical director) while the team’s plan is not for the long term.
With the team unable to defeat the likes of Tunisia to progress to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, it is very important to look into the technical aspect of the team has gathered the best crop of players that are capable of taking the country to a reasonable round even at a world level.
Instead, Eguaveon’s first assistant manager Paul Aigbogun was dismissed while former defender Joseph Yobo who is not a licensed coach was promoted as a third assistant coach.
Aigbogun until his dismissal was the man in charge of opponent scouting and video analysis.
He dedicated his time to his job and sacrificed a lot for the Nation during the AFCON.
Vastly experienced, he was instead sacrificed while names like Aloysius Agu was retained as the goalkeeper trainer which was a major position the Super Eagles needs to work on and the reason Nigeria suffered early elimination in Cameroon.
Lack Of Effective Plan For The Future
With the emergence of Jose Peseiro, many were anticipating new ideas, a new tactical approach, and a new identity for the team to take over African Football as the Giants of Africa they have been known for.
Instead, the Glass House still went for a short-term plan which shows a lack of proper arrangement for the team.
With the age the Super Eagles have in the squad which is a team that can play together in the next five years, the NFF should have gone for a man who will handle the team for a long run and hand him the chance to take the team to the next level.
RISK OF MISSING OUT OF WORLD CUP
While the Ghana Football Federation is looking for the best hands to handle the team as they prepare to take Nigeria in a crunch world cup qualifying tie.
Nigeria is using the same World Cup qualifying games to run a test of who to handle the team.
Ghana is on course to announce former Brighton and Holve Albion coach Chris Hughton as their manager before the game and Nigeria is doing the opposite, keeping their foreign acquisition pending until after the two-headed game.
On Monday, the NFF President Mr. Amaju Pinnick announced that the Portuguese can take another job while waiting for Nigeria to finish their World Cup game – A sign of not being serious.
After missing out in the AFCON 2019 tournament, the Eagles will let themselves down if they fail to qualify for the World Cup as the Nation will have nothing to hope for when the event begins in Qatar later this year.
