Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has said it is important for the team to win their next two games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying series.
The three-time African champions are yet to record in a win the qualifiers after drawing their opening two games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
Finidi will take charge of the Super Eagles for the first time in an official game against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Friday, June 7.
The Super Eagles will also face the Squirrels of Benin few days later.
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“The World Cup qualification matches against South Africa and Benin Republic is a collective responsibility for all Nigerians. I know I am in charge now and the heavy responsibility is on me to win the two world cup matches,” Finidi told reporters during his visit to Nigeria Football Federation’s office in Abuja.
“I will do my best to ensure success and qualify for the world Cup. I am also in touch with the players and they are ready and willing yo give their all having missed out in the last edition held in Qatar. In terms of having knowledge of our opponents , I have been following them.
“The world today is a global village, one can monitor anything in the comfort of his/ her sitting room.
“We need prayers and support from everybody , this is our own we can do it and do it well. I watch our players weekly as they play in their various clubs . Honestly my target is to win the two matches and not to be judged with the two international friendly game played”.
40 Comments
I still dey laugh. Foundation is key to everything.
I am very positive that SE under Finidi’s watch will beat Bafana Bafana of SA and Squirrels of Benin in June. Just do it and take control of the group
Hahahaha……Im sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but Beating South Africa and Benin (the odds of achieving that is not even guaranteed yet) alone does not give us control of the group…..Rwanda has to drop points.
Rwanda play away to Benin and Lesotho. So once again, the much despised Gernot Rohr will have a huge say in our qualification matters this June….if he finds his mojo and defeats both Rwanda and SE, we are doomed…LMAOoo…if he doesn’t find his mojo and loses to both Rwanda and Nigeria, we are still not safe.
Moreover, the qualifiers do not end this June, its a marathon and we need a healthy points lead (5 or 6 points and above) over multiple windows that will allow us the luxury of losing or drawing one or two games and still remaining on top (as in the days of Gernot Rohr…LMAOooo) before we can claim to be in control of the group and that does not seem like happening this June yet.
Super eagles will win South African and birnin by God’s grace
….because SA and Benin don’t believe in God too right…?!
Good stats Dr Drey but some of us still believe we will brave the odds and qualify or do you see your friend Gennet Rohr qualifying ahead of us? We don’t die before we get into the battle front. Eagles will fight to qualify.
Rohr is definitely not qualifying ahead of us….but he holds the aces as regards to whether we will qualify or not, beginning from this June. Somebody needs to derail Rwanda’s train b4 it picks up momentum and becomes unstoppable.
And we also need to pray he doesn’t play the low block that has seen him force 2 AFCON champions (Senegal and CIV) to a draw. This SE squad in recent times has struggled to break teams that play on the low.
This June is definitely going to be an interesting month.
Looooooool. Rorh holds the aces for our qualifier, what a joke coming from a sick puppy and those wishing him to fail. If he wins this 2 games hope you will leave this site. Can’t stop laughing benin republic, smh
Okponu ayirada ekeji aja…shebi it is the animals that gave brith to you that will help us get points off Rwanda in June…..LMAOoo.
Ode omo lasan lasan….LMAOOo
You’d be pleasantly surprised!
IF FINIDI GEORGE BASED HIS INVITATION OF PLAYERS ON POTENTIAL, QUALITY & MERIT (without sentiment), THEN HE WILL DEFINITELY SUCCEED WITH SUPER EAGLE BY QUALIFY FOR W/CUP. BUT IF HE BASED HIS INVITATION OF PLAYERS ON EGO, SENIORITY, UNFIT EXPERIENCE PLAYER/LEADERSHIP/CAPTAINSHIP OR INVITE PLAYERS TO PLEASED/PACIFY SOMEBODY, THEN HE WILL FAIL WOEFULLY MORE THAN PAST LOCAL COACHES BY NOT QUALIFY FOR W/CUP.
*** FINIDI SHOULD LEAVE OUT ANY UNFIT, INCONSISTENT, BENCHWARMER, IRRELEVANT, IRREGULAR PLAYERS IN SUPER EAGLE TEAM. HE SHOULD LEAVE OUT UNFIT EXPERIENCE PLAYERS/CAPTAIN/LEADER OUT OF SUPER EAGLE.
**** FINIDI SHOULD SELECT A NEW FITTED LEADER/CAPTAIN (i.e. a captain that will be relevant on the field not on the bench).
AS AHMED MUSA NOT RELEVANT on the field of play for both club & county, IHEANACHO, ARIBO, SADIQ UMAR( a regular benchwarmer in respective club sides) and ZAIDU, TROOST-EKONG, EBUEHI still injured.
MY PREDICTION SQUAD FOR W/C QUALIFIERS….
1. NWABALI – OKOYE- ADELEYE
2. OSAYI – AINA-
3. COLLINS – ONYEBUACHI
4. NDIDI- ONYEKA- ONYEDIKA – AL-HASSAN
5. OMERUO- OLISA NDAH
6. AJAYI– AWAZIEM– G.OSHO
7. LOOKMAN- CHUKWUEZE- TELLA
8. BONIFACE-MOFFI- G.ORBAN
9. OSIMHEN- DESSERS
10. IWOBI-AKPOM- OLAWOYIN
11. SIMON- EJUKE
May God help you succeed.
May He grant you all the wisdom and favour you need for this assignment.
Be resolute and Good luck Coach. Its our prayer to see you at the dugout during the world cup.
We will beat them and qualify for the world cup. Coaches selection is gone. We go after our opponents together.
NFF should please give us the full coaching staff. Ghana recently reappointed Otto Ado and announced 3 – 4 solid assistants at the same time. That way, no eyebrows were raised because their fans could see any perceived deficiencies were covered.
I am not confident hearing Finidi’s name solely. Please put some perspective on this controversial — even maybe lightweight — appointment. Whether local or foreign assistant, it just must be solid. Then perhaps some of us will support Finidi with confidence.
Hopefully, that’s the purpose of yesterday’s meeting with the moribund, progress-averse NFF. I’m eagerly looking forward to the announcement. There are just 30 days to go to the two crunch, qualification-deciding ties against Hugo Broos’ South Africa and Gernot Rohr’s Benin. One, a former Afcon gold winner and the other a former Afcon bronze winner.
The nff with over $7 million received this year managed to manipulate the process and avoided hiring the best option for current needs.
Given the options of local coaches presented,i applauded the decision to hire Finidi. It is only left for Finidi to prove that his 20 months of being with the team is no waste or ogogoro thing. The last friendly matches really exposed his technical and mental limitations. For this reason, he needs to strengthen his bench with technically sound assistants with great knowledge of modern football techniques. He can get that from his Deutch or Spanish friends or trusted ones like Olofin,
Essien, and Ikeme,
Nff please give Yobo, Mikel and Obafemi Martins to Finidi as assistants.
A bench consisting of Finidi, Yobo, Mikel and Obagoal will perform wonders.
And what is wrong with that, oga abeg stop with this your yeye comments on this platform, you free to go support Benin republic if you don’t like what the super eagles are doing. You just be encouraging PE teacher Rorh by now on how to win games with games to spare. Abi you don leave that bandwagon.
I think Findi must do something to beat South Africa and Benin ; he must hire an excellent assistants who can read the match excellently , put plan (B) to any match Super Eagles play , choose excellent players on.merit not on setiments , make good replacements at any match especially if SE were beaten , he would have to make an excellent replacement to change the match result for SE , he must control and hinder Bafana Bafana dangerous attackers to score , so he must control the game with keeping the ball , this needs to put strong strategy and good tactic to overcome South Africa and Benin ; he can put 3-5-2 line-up as follows: Nwabili- Ajayi, Ekong, Bassey- Aina, Onyemaechi, Ndidi,Onyeka,Iwobi- Lookman, Osimhen.
He must not play 4-4-2.
He must not play for entertainment, we need results now.
Mass defense mass attack.
Start Boniface and lukman, let Osimen come in as a sub.
We need a creative MF like Orban too, someone who can change the game
Chedebere Eze would have been a wonderful option for the SE in the MF.
I saw in my dream Nigeria played their opening match in the next world cup against Italy and it ended 1-1. I have never dreamt of super eagles before.I hope this turns out real. I am hoping Finidi gets a good assistant from one of his foreign player friends from Ajax, Real Betis and Porstmouth. Let him consult with his old foreign coaches to recommend a very good foreign assisstant that is unbiased and not affected by Nigerian factor. That way he is safe from sabotage and interference. Then he can hire Sylvanus Okpala, Yaya Toure etc or any African from Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Ghana, senegal or Togo who has assisted a team that has qualified for world cup before. His assistants will determine Nigeria’s qualification.
Some people will be talking like a since. Hire yahaya Toure people from cameroun, ivory coast or player friends from Real betis etc very funny did NFF have money to pay those people. Thought some of you are saying they should hire grade A coaches like Rennhard, Van Bastien etc. A country that was devided on how to pay a meagre $70k before appointing their homegrown coach which they will still struggle to pay as usual will go for coaches whose their pay is not less than $300k-$400k dollar per month. We shall see how this will goes.r
My brother Finidi should have football friends who can come down and help him. All his team mates from Ajax are millionaires and will not even need his money to help him. It depends on the relationships he built with those guys. Most of them are top coaches with top contacts worldwide in Football. Finidi just needs to reach out to his old boys and table his matter, help will come. If you played in a top club like Finidi did, contacts won’t be an issue for him. Ajax 93 to 95 whatsapp group can get him anything he requires in this assignment. Contacts give you success not money.He should make use of it now.
Lmao I wan type but LWKMD
LMAO that is why you will never be granted Visa because your way of thinking is delusional. No be only Yaya toure na Mama Toure. Why did CIV see him fit but Nigeria??? You will know nothing about football but you will be spilling trash and believe you have also contributed. SMH I will slap madness out of your big head if your miserable self was even privilege to cross path with me. Trash can!!!!
Your a village bastard! Which visa are you talking about.You are a small boy and i can’t bring myself down low to talk to psychotic idiot that was born illegal in a brothel. You know nothing about Football. For your information i have not lived in Nigeria for 30yrs and don’t need visa to travel anywhere in the world. Last worldcup i was there live and hope to be in the next worldcup with Nigeria playing. I played football before you were born. If you know the work of a psychologist in winning matches, then you will understand my angle.If you mingle with a pig, you become one. You can argue with my kids and not me. God knows that anyday i see you i will still slap you. Anuohia, amuru na ime ohia.
Nobody should come for FINIDI if we don’t make it out of the group. The previous kept us in this predicament. Games that should have being won easily against minnows, he gave them away. But I hope he does his best and we qualifier
This is the problem in this country, àccountability =0 . They want leadership but don’t want to take responsibility. Your politicians will sieze power and then tell you to blame previous government. Are you aware that only 1 point separates South Africa and Nigeria? Defeating them will place us 2 points ahead and on track to qualify.
We will definitely blame him if we do not qualify. The terms of engagement are very clear, qualify for the world Cup or moon walk to the revolving exit door.
Well Golden Child,
I won’t blame Mr Finidi if we don’t qualify for the World Cup so long as he tries his best.
The blame will go to NFF who employed a less-suitable candidate for the job on the account of having no funds for a coach with richer pedigree.
Excuse you, blame Finidi for not, drawing 2 winnable games by his predecessor. Haba now, you of all people should know this is a set-up by the NFF, they want to make a point i pray will not see the light of day. Am even suspicious of some of the players, they could come and sabotage his tenure. smh
We shall see..i will have preferred Amunike because of his experience.
Omo today I just want to be reading comments. Some said Taribo or Yaya toure should be Assistant coach. Another said they should invite Eze. Somebody also said Obafemi Martins that is clubing and wearing Bling Bling up and down should be appointed to assist as well. We will reach there make una rest. Nigeria job is not too hard if any coach chooses to be honest and avoid corrupt NFF.
Finidi Fishes For Favour and Favourable Fortune
The highly unpopular freshly coronated Super Eagles Head Coach Finidi George is trying to unify fans and other stakeholders around him for the mammoth tasks ahead.
Aware that a huge body of fans might be unconvinced about his appointment, Finidi said: “The World Cup qualification matches against South Africa and Benin Republic are a collective responsibility for all Nigerians. We need prayers and support from everybody , this is our own we can do it and do it well.”
I can understand Finidi’s efforts in trying to carry everyone along with this project but to be honest, it is not “collective responsibility”, it is his “sole responsibility” to step up to the plate and make a success of an appointment which hasn’t gone down well with a large body of fans.
In an interview with a journalist, Finidi said he observed valuable methodologies from the coaches he worked under as a Player in Spain and England. He went on to say he then cut his own coaching teeth in Holland where he served as an Under-age and reserve team coach.
In that interview – widely available on YouTube – he implied that he now has his own unique style built on clever interplay of passes predominantly on grass to pry open defences and inflict damage.
Having watched some of Eyimba’s matches and the Super Eagles 2:0 loss to Mali, I can see semblances of Finidi’s forte in action.
I personally implore fans to give this man a chance. He said he monitors our opponents, keep tabs on our players and would like to be judged on outcomes of upcoming competitive fixtures rather than what had gone before.
“Honestly my target is to win the two matches (and ultimately qualify Nigeria for World Cup) and not to be judged with the two international friendly game played”, said the outgoing Eyimba coach.
So, for me, I will offer feedback on Finidi’s future performances – highlighting what to me are the strengths and weaknesses – just I would have done had NFF employed Pep Guardiola.
But expectations will be low and understandably so. Finidi’s pedigree – however generous and loving we might want to be – does not inspire confidence. His appointment by this strategically-bankcrupt NFF is one already laden with depressing performances and underwhelming and unfavourable outcomes.
But, Finidi seems ready to go against the grain of popular opinion and prove that he can make the Super Eagles super again.
A huge ask, if you ask me. But football itself is full of twist and turns.
This is Finidi’s time to shine. Let’s hope he grasp the nettle and pull a most unlikely rabbit out of his coaching hat!
Nigeria Beating SA and Benin is guaranteed.. Our football is going No where with Finidi, Let us look at it. even if he wins it will be even more damning for us. Because his head will have swollen and he will think he can walk on air. Like we all knw who Might i add to his detriment?, well the answer is obvious and a resounding yes, He will feel he can do it With Local players and All reasoning will be out the window and the all to familiar Nigerian arrogance will set it. Win or Loose Nigeria is doomed with a local Coach any continutiy is out of the window SA is not even my problem If Nigeria qualify for WC and An Indigenous coach is in charge worse of a Coach with ties to an NPFL team. Lol come WC players like Lookman and Tella will be frozen out a strong core will be there because of Eyebrows but a weak bench that Audition with Bribes and Players Finidi deludedly fools himself can makeEurope from Enyimba will be there. Obviously if the Sign Agent Finidi and Unael will get thier Kickbacks.. Umunnem We are Doomed! PERIOD!!! Win or Loose with a Local coach Nigeria will not go to World Cup with Nigeria’s full strength squad that is if we are lucky to qualify.
Oga Hater, you are free to go support your PE teacher next door. Or better still unplug your TV and radio when the super eagles are playing whilst Finidi is the coach. Whose head no dey swell when you accomplish a task. Dey their dey smoke cheap weed. Rubbish comment
Mumu dey smell lol…Oya tell me the wettin con happen to SE after Oga Keshi Head swell after AFCON triumph?? tell me what happened to SE what was our trajectory from 2013 until 2016 Rohr?.tell Blind Patriot? I dey wait your answer. only a fool cannot desphier that this is the reason for Nigeria’s Poor lack of continuity record.
It is only in Nigeria where because you were a good player mean’s you are automatically a good coach lol. Some of the best coaches today were not Great players even the ones that Played at the highest level were not the best in their teams but in Nigeria because you played ball mean’s you are a good coach and SE is your Birth right. People cannot see that these ex internationals do not have the Current SE best interest at heart afterall they do not want them to out Achieve them. Yet some Deluded fans will be signing thier Praise because they played for Super Eagles at a time when football was so different.
Look at this born throway dey rant like parrot, wetin come be the achievement of the white coaches that came after him? SHould we start from the fire brigade approach they were using for the local coaches, when the last oyinbo coach was messing up, was he asked to leave. But because he was parking the bus, fools like you were singing his praise. The PE teacher next door, that was the almighty tactician, winning the group with games to spare is still yet to win one game for the squirrels. Please like i advised you, turn off your tv and suck on you thumb when the Eagles are playing
Nigeria Beating SA and Benin is guaranteed lol even so,.. Our football is going No where with Finidi. Let us look at it. even if he wins it will be even more damning for us. Because his head will have swollen and he will think he can walk on air. Like we all know who. Might i add will this be to his detriment?, well the answer is obvious and a resounding yes. He will feel he can do it With Local players and All reasoning will be out the window and the all to familiar Nigerian arrogance will set it. Win or Loose Nigeria is doomed with a local Coach any continuity is out of the window SA is not even my problem, If Nigeria qualify for WC and An Indigenous coach is in charge worse a Coach with ties to an NPFL team. Lol come WC players like Lookman and Tella may be frozen out a strong core might be there because of Eyebrows but a weak bench that Audition with Bribes is guaranteed. Players Finidi deludedly fools himself can make Europe from Enyimba will be there for Monetary gains to him of course . Obviously if they Sign Agent Finidi and Unael will get thier Kickbacks so they are not perturbed..
Umunnem We are Doomed! PERIOD!!! Win or Loose with a Local coach Nigeria will not go to World Cup with Nigeria’s full strength squad that is if we are lucky to qualify.
CSN please stop playing double standard, when picking and choosing which comment you deem fit for a certain discussion.