The Nigeria Football Federation is considering the possibility of appointing Augustine Eguavoen permanent Super Eagles coach, reports Completesports.com.
Eguavoen was named to the post last month in an interim capacity after the NFF fired former coach Gernot Rohr on the eve of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The NFF later appointed Portuguese Jose Peseiro as the new head coach of the three-time African champions.
Peseiro is expected to take charge of the team after the AFCON finals in Cameroon.
Eguavoen put himself in the frame for the job after guiding the Super Eagles to three successive wins in Cameroon.
Read Also: AFCON 2021: 7 Takeaways From Super Eagles’ Win Against Guinea-Bissau
“He is not in Cameroon because we have not signed a contract with him yet,” a member of the NFF executive council who does not want to be named, told ESPN.
“If he had signed a contract, he would have definitely been in Cameroon as planned.”
“We are managing the public trust. So we have to look at what the people want and we also know what we want as well,” added the official.
“What we all agree on is that we want the team to do well, to play good football, to make Nigerians happy and to win trophies.
“It doesn’t matter who the coach is, what matters is the objective. If that objective can be achieved with Eguavoen as we can see now, then why not?
“We removed Rohr because Nigerians were not happy with the play and we were not blind to see that we were not going in the right direction the way we were playing.”
By Adeboye Amosu
45 Comments
If una appoint him, make una give am free hand to work, not imposing players on him and pay him well like white coach, Ndi ara NFF
I always laugh whenever someone name Cameroon as a strong team.
Cameron team is not that strong, Even a simple tactic will defeat the team.
If you look at the Cameroonian team, it has only one strong striker. and the defence is not strong with bad goalkeeper. Cameroon conceded goals in all their group matches. Even the weak Ethiopia scored them. they plaid draw with cape Verde we dealt with even with Rohr as coach few months ago.
If Super Eagles face Cameroon team, we only need to park the only striker the way we parked Sala and our strikers will do the needful.
Super Eagles all the way.
God bless Nigeria.
I agree with you.
They should pay him well.
If the Super Eagles win Tunisia, then it will probably be NIG v CIV final or NIG V CAM final.
But am really concerned about Tunisia.
They are wounded and will fight like a wounded lion.
If Eguavon wins the AFCON, then, Amunike and Manu Garba should join the him for the world cup playoff and the WC if the SE qualifies.
You’re in the spirit, my brother. Then imagine players like Osimhen, Dennis, Lookman, Ovie, Adeleye, Nwobodo and possibly Olise joining the current squad. It’s tantalising. Qatar 2022 and a likely Semi Final achievement. One thing is a obvious, Eguavoen knows how to deploy and maximise talents and his style is very Nigerian. And he’s very more matured tactically and technically from 2006. The boys play in their natural (most) and express themselves to their full potentials – not stifled in an ultra-defensive, out-of-position roles.
Guys should stop this obsession with Garba and Ammunike, these 2 coaches did well in U-17 but failed woefully in U-20 championship, so how do you think they will fare in Senior National team? None of them could tie down a senior coaching job in any club or country ever since winning the U-17 WC.
We have Eguavoen who is doing well now, however I wouldn’t advocate that he should be given the job permanently if he wins AFCON, I will advice the NFF to keep him as Technical Director with enviable pedigree that the appointed coach will respect and look up to, hence Eguavoen will have a good oversight ability on the new coach with his valued guidance to greater success
@Dr.Banks forget it… If NFF choose to add Amuneke & Garba to assist Eguaveon as part of his technical staff there is nothing bad…
Apart from coaching skills, Amuneke and Manu have played the game to enviable levels. Manu was at Moscow 83 world youth championship and Amuneke needs no introduction.
The good old days of fearsome El-Kanemi warriors of Borno had guys like Manu Garba who made the team thick… If you were old enough to follow our strong Domestic League back then you would know that every other team in the league dreaded El-Kanemi warriors in those days… Manu was their midfield dynamo.
Eguaveon is doing a great job but won’t be there forever, we need succession plan and it won’t be bad to have Amuneke/Manu on his bench also to be understudying Cerezo so that when he leave the post we will already have guys ready to step in… it could also be Manu/Finidi.
It should have dawn on you guys to know that these whitemen don’t really know our football and mentality and they just come to introduce us to systems that become rudderless in the long run…
NFF… If they are finally convinced about Eguaveon should make sure his salary is nothing less than €25k monthly… atleast half of what was being given to the Grandpa Rohr.
Let us fail with our own… go ask Ghana and Egypt how far with foreign mercenary coaches! Enough said…
Thanks my brother for your submission above, problem is Amunike stated emphatically that he doesn’t wanna be anybody’s assistant when NFF contacted him last year on taking the role of Assistant coach to Rohr. He wants the plum job but hasn’t done enough for the Big post IMHO.
@Jimmy, what should be the criteria for coaches selection? Should it not be perfornce based ? What has Manu/Amuneke achieved in recent years ?
All I’m saying is that the same criteria should be applied used for selection of all coaches. Even if Roar was underperforming, would it be wrong for Amuneke to assist him and get familiar with the team ? My dear, Amuneke missed that opportunity. His action tells much about his interest in becoming the head which to me is not a bad idea bit he has to be more qualified than others.
For that reason I’m not sold on Amuneke on that team.
Actually, Yobo is just the third assistant behind Salisu and Aigboun.. His position is not really consequential and perhaps he is just there to learn and upgrade himself. Past SE captains like Keshi and Eguavoen had similar experience under Bonfere & Amodu. This to me has really worked well for SE.
We should all support the idea of making SE more competitive and try not to see it as a right of certain individuals.
@Dr Banks, well-said.
Folks should stop all these Amuneke/Garba stuffs. These two guys have not really upgraded their resume to SE level. I’ll advise them to get themselves a coaching career in clubsides.Super Eagles should never be used as a trial and error only coaches that have proved their mettle and have demonstrated some levels of success in their past assignment with naional teams or clubsides should be considered.
Based on the fact that he was not interested in assisting Roar, it is clear that he is interested in the top job.
Cerezo that we are praising today had worked under numerous capacity and gradual progress as an under-age coach, U-23 coach, SE assistant coach, SE coach, local and foreign club coach.
Like Egbo/Finidi, Amuneke/Garba should get a coaching job with a local or foreign clubsides.
@Larry… Atleast Amuneke/Finidi/Manu have done some coaching badges… atleast they can present coaching papers… now tell us which one Joseph Yobo a.k.a Assistant Coach of Super Eagles has? Guy leave that thing Amuneke knew Rohr was a quack and really never rated the Grandpa… He has visited the coaching staff and players in Garoua and sees Eguaveon as a senior colleague and it’s clear they relate well with eachother… So to assume Amuneke won’t want to work under Eguaveon may be unreal… Manu/Amuneke worked with most of the boys in the team now…
I always laugh whenever someone name Cameroon as a strong team.
Cameron team is not that strong, Even a simple tactic will defeat the team.
If you look at the Cameroonian team, it has only one strong striker. and the defence is not weak with bad goalkeeper. Cameroon conceded goals in all their group matches. Even the weak Ethiopia scored them. they plaid draw with cape Verde we beat home and away few months ago.
If Super Eagles face Cameroon team, we only need to park the only striker the way we parked Sala and our strikers will do the needful.
Super Eagles all the way.
God bless Nigeria.
“We removed Rohr because Nigerians were not happy with the play” lmaooooooooooooooo opinions of those agaist Rohr eventually superseded those his minions. Kikikikikiikikikikikikikikkikikikikikikikikiki sorry Mr Rohr fans. He who fights and runs, fights another day
*against* *those of his minions*
Always making senseless comments…. Mark of a highway olosho…lol
Body pepper you
Lmaoooo have you found your sister’s missing womb she lost through abortion thanks to her olosho business
Eyaaa stop crying. Endeavour to port to Seychelles national team when they appoint Rohr
If the Super Eagles win Tunisia, then it will probably be NIG v CIV final or NIG V CAM final.
But am really concerned about Tunisia.
They are wounded and will fight like a wounded lion.
If Eguavon wins the AFCON, then, Amunike and Manu Garba should join him for the world cup playoff and the WC if the SE qualifies.
I think a local coach like Agustine Eguavoen is a suitable coach than forigne coach because the local one has the culuture and the same feeling with patriotism and has a charisma which push and grants Super Eagles players improvements and enthusism to perform a strong and combative football, look at William Troost has improved so upturn, also look at Simon Moses has become a World quality player ; I Ithink Troost and Simon after Afcon will join a great clubs in Europe.So NFF must let Euga for coaching SE until World Cup playsoff, if Egua won Afcon. then he must be a permenent coach.
Thank God pls do cause am not sure about this pesiro coach he has no real achievement
He who the cap fits let him wear it!!!
It should be Wisdom to throw the White man out if his contract has not been signed. Has Eguavoen passed the main Test either? When a man dares the Oracle in his drunken Ego then a clueless Madness destroys his future!
Amaju picnic will not like this leak, may God bless the un-named nff official. Aguevoen please change your ways invite only deserving players to the super eagles camp henceforth. Thanks.
Your comments depict who you really are. The reason he chose ndah is because he wanted to bring the sense of mixing the home based players with the foreigners. He even wanted to add them but he says that the NPFL has started and it won’t be good to deny them from playing with their clubs and at the end of the day he send them back
WE SHOULD NOT BE CARRY AWAY WITH RESULTS ONLY. WHAT REALLY MATTER IS THAT CAN THIS LOCAL COACHES INSTILL DISCIPLINE INTO THE TEAM. WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT KESHI ALSO WON AFCON CUP & QUALIFIED FOR SECOND ROUND OF WORLD CUP. BUT AFTER THAT WE FAIL TO QUALIFY FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE AFCON.
IN 2011 PREMINARY U-23 OLYMPIC QUALIFIERS QUALIFIER, EQUAVOEN DID CREDIBLY WELL BY DEFEATING HIS OPPONENTS BY 3-0,4-0,8-0 AND QUALIFIED FOR U-23 AFCON PROPER. BUT AT THE END, FROM U-23 AFCON THEY FAILED WOEFULLY BY NOT QUALIFY FOR LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAME.
OUR LOCAL COACHES ARE HIGHLY SENTIMENTAL AND BRIBE-TAKER
This NFF is a typical Nigerian organization-slippery, crooked and corrupt. Austin Eguavoen is going to be their next victim
Eguavoen Should Not Be Full Time Coach
___ Of The Super Eagles ____
As the Super Eagles continue to navigate the current Afcon campaign in thrilling style with a beautiful brand of football and a record breaking 100% group stage win record, traction is building for the NFF to coronate Interim Guru Austin Eguavoen as Permanent Gaffer.
In truth, the Super Eagles have performed like royalty in the tournament thus far against all expectations owing to how badly primed they were. The team’s pre-tournament preparations foundered in the quagmire of the NFF’s own making because of their sacking of Gernot Rohr so close to the showpiece.
The NFF was largely pilloried at the time by many commentators who were friends and foes alike of Gernot Rohr. The battle ground wasn’t about Rohr’s brand of football, it was timing. History teaches us that sacking a coach so close to a major tournament is recipe for participation disaster.
However, the brand of football-meal on offer by the Super Eagles thus far in Cameroon has been nothing short of delicious and digestible. The Interim coach put in place by the NFF is vindicating what was a balsy and somewhat reckless move of giving Rohr his marching orders.
His inheritance? a team expected to win the Cup of Nations. His pedigree? part of a golden generation of Super Eagles players with an interesting tactical philosophy as a coach. His name? Austin Eguavoen.
And already Super Eagles have broken new grounds under the 56 year old Sapele born Interim Coach in this Afcon. Nigeria are: the only team with 9 points in the group phase; the team with best goals difference; the team with the most diverse goals scorers; the team with the perfect split of goals (3 goals in each half), and the only team yet to concede in open play.
Eguavoen has turned the Super Eagles from ranked outsiders to the team to be feared and avoided like a plague.
But, the business end of the tournament has just begun and for me, it is too early to talk about giving Eguavoen the job on a permanent basis. But, let’s be indulgent to get ahead of ourselves for a minute and imagine he does deliver that pot of gold at the end of the green white green rainbow for Nigeria fans in this Afcon, should he be retained as substantive Coach?
I will have to say no, purely based on the model that the NFF appear to be promoting according to recent media reports.
The NFF are a gambling organisation. They like to play Russian Roulette with the feelings, yearnings and aspirations of fans with their experimental approaches. Sometimes it works but often it fails spectacularly.
The organisation are looking at Eguavoen performing the dual role of Technical Director and Head Coach of the Super Eagles. An interesting concept on the face of it but one riddled with complexities and problems once you start to scratch beneath the surface.
The two roles are very different. One is strategic, the other is operational. One is heavily short term while the other is primarily long term in outlook. One is oversight whilst the other administrative. One involves interacting more with senior administrators while the other involves interacting with players. To amalgamate both roles is to underestimate the nature of work needed for each to meet set aims, goals and objectives.
For me, the NFF needs a full time Technical Director and a full time Head Coach of the Super Eagles each with unencumbered, unmuddled and delimited remit. That is the only way forward for Nigerian football in my humble opinion.
However, should the NFF revert to type and announce Eguavoen in the dual role of Director and Coach, one can only hope that they get away with it, much of the way their disgraceful handling and poor timing of Rohr’s sacking is proving to be a runaway success.
Thank you @Deo for this exquisite analysis, you echoed my thoughts brilliantly as written in my short submission above.
I strongly believe Eguavoen will function better as the Technical Director should he win AFCON, he will have a strong pedigree to which the new coach will look up to, hence he will be able to perform his duty as the bridge between the coach / players Vs NFF, He will be able to perfect a workable blueprint necessary for the continuous development of football across all age grades and senior team
@deo, you never disappoint with your usual noise. The NFF position right now only goes to show that Eguavoen is already silencing his doubters.
Thanks Dr Banks.
The name Peseiro itself sums up the man’s character. Peseiro for those who understand Yoruba means someone who deals wholesale in lies.
Virtually every Nigerian now runs happily to the TV set to watch the Super Eagles play our style of football. Exactly the best way to describe the happiness the interim head coach, Austin Eguavoen, has brought to Nigerians irrespective where we live. I align fully with the NFF to go ahead and discharge their responsibility by sustaining whatever makes Nigeria football fans happy. Thank God Eguavoen is interested in our domestic league. He should be given at least a 6-year contract to dig deep into our villages and localities to unearth hundreds of talents spread across board, it is possible since himself and his assistants already have copies of the Belgium Blueprint to work on. God bless our Homeland.
Nice one @Deo, the Good thing about cerezo, is that he listen to advice, unlike oliseh, rohr, and even The late keshi, where all bull headed coaches who for egoistic reasons will never take advice from fellow ex Professionals. Eguadiola is not a controversial coach who finds faults and issues outside football, to Begin to distroy players and team plans. Like everyone knows that Nigerians are all coaches, its A Good thing for me and it justify The reasons we are one of the craziest football nation in The World, imagine eguavon is The coach, and he listen to The likes of amunike and finidi he also listen to his former boss christian chukwu and many others including onigbide and odegbami, these are Free assistants from passionates nigeria football gurus, added to his knowledge of the game, combine with his lessons learned from modern football coaches like he accepted when he made references to knop guadiola and Mourinho,(thanks to Social media) that is to say he is a real football fan, and he is open minded to modern lessons in football, i wasnt so encited about his appointment in The beginning, but after The video Deo uploaded for us on his annalysis of plans and tactics from our football history to our current status, i felt verymuch at Home, it was clear to me that Eguavon is flexible and a real fan of the job he is appointed to do, retaining eguavon is The best for eagles, his current assistant are Good, and the other free assistant he gets behind The scene will do take us far, i believe we are The best, and together we can rule The World of od football.
@Collins ID
It is now clear Eguavoen bis taking the S.E to the World as our permanent coach.
Eguavoen is already working with able assistants and had time without number said he does the job with his crew. And if he is in need of more staffers, may be Finidi could be coopted not Amuneke. Amuneke failed as the coach of Tanzania national team and was even sacked as the coach of Egyptian club side. Facts (not me)had it that he lost all his 3 group stage matches in the recently past Afcon, so what are you going to do with such person unless you are been overemotional which shouldn’t be anyways. Any coach or assistants with the Eagles should be persons with pedigree and not failures. Coach Eguavoen is too phenomenal and can’t be in that class, jokes apart.
Henry,
I watched all the matches in 2019 Afcon. Amunike side lost to Kenya 3:2; then to Algeria 3:0 and finally to Senegal 3:0.
I think Amunike is good with u17 or u20.
Great write up Collins Id: on point as always. Thanks for your acknowledgement as well. 🙂
Confusion don start
I don’t think there will be any confusion since the NFF is now interested in appointing a domestic coach. Peseiro failed in his first assignment by refusing to be in Cameroon. We must continue to impress it upon the NFF to permanent the present Super Eagles coaches since they have performed creditably.
You simply took the words out of my mouth.
@Henry, the name of the Egyptian club that sacked Amuneke is Misr El-Makkasa and he was replaced with Ehab Galal. This is the position of history. Amuneke major problem is that he has been jobless for far too long and had refused to develop himself. I am also against bringing such a person close to our amiable SE. Assistants like Salisu Yusuf, Paul Aigbogun, Joseph Yobo, Dr Terry Eguaoje, and Aloysius Agu (Goalkeeper Trainer) are doing beautifully well considering super Eagles exploits in Cameroon.
The football federation should go ahead and permanent them to do the job properly.
Another good thing about coach Austin Eguavoen is that he already knows what he wants and also very interested in our local league.
My five years old boy came in this afternoon and guess what? “Daddy is Eguavoen playing today” he asked. Son, Eguavoen is the Super Eagles interim coach was my answer. Then went on to tell him the Super Eagles will be playing on Sunday. The import is that Eguavoen is now on the lips of Nigerians and the children are not left out. Which further consideration does the NFF needs? It is obvious Eguavoen and co are doing a great job our there.
The Social Networks are buzzling with news about the Super Eagles of Nigeria resulting from the current performance of the Team.
The Super Eagles are flying seemingly on the right flight path. I would love to sound a bit more optimistic, but memories of the past make me resist the urge to.
Like some Nigerians, me too has come out of my shell to join in the celebration of the moment. However momentarily it might be, I will just relish it. I am not a good weather fan. No, I just tried to save myself from the disappointments that often, accompanies the team.
Without more ado, let me say, like most Nigerians I am delighted seeing the Super Eagles currently doing well beyond most expectations.
Some of the glaring questions, which come to mind are: Couldn´t this have been done in the past? Why now? Can this be sustained?
To answer these questions, let me state here some popular quotations which are familiar to some of you.
“You can get it if you really want…but you got to try….”
“Those who forget the past and think only of the present are certainly going to miss the future”
Also, as it is related to this topic, I would like to mention a story once told of a boy, who was admiring an artist who had carved a lion out of some wood. He asked the artist in awe: “how did you know that a lion was hiding inside the wood?” The carver replied to him thus: “son, in every wood, there is a Lion. You only need a good carver to bring it out for people to see”
Of course, this could have been done in the past. To cure an Ailment, you must know the cause. If we really want to succeed, then we must look back and identify the reasons why we have failed. If we really want to fix the identified problems, then we must work towards fixing it. Do we have the necessary tools and know-how required to fix the problems? Yes, we have, to a large extent. As a technician, I will tell you this: Nothing is more frustrating than having a good knowledge of how to fix something but lacks the tools to do it. Yes, one can improvise, but it should not become the norm rather it should be an exception. Conversely, bad technicians with good tools. What if both are present? Good Technician with good tools? Environment, motivations etc becomes factors you cannot ignore.
I have read lot of comments here online. Most have made lot of sense, some less so. Everyone shares one thing in common though: the love of the Game and the Super Eagles. You might not agree, but if you have the tools at your disposal, you will find out, that most of the views here would be reflected upon several things like age, exposure, occupation, education, characters etc of the people behind the write-ups. One thing is clear though, even if you are not a cook, when you are given a delicious meal to eat, you can tell the difference between a good or a bad meal. Hmmn, but that again is debatable because one man´s good meal is another man´s poison!
Yes, the Super Eagles can be what they are now, if the people directly responsible, stop putting square pegs in round holes. Having the right persons and the right tools to do the right things is one thing. But it also requires an enabling environment and motivation (not only praises, but good timely pay too.
To end, a quick reminder of those (I am not saying it´s wrong) to those who are against the dismissal of the former coach Gernot Rohr. As a coach, he himself understand better than most of his supporters that, it is very normal in this business to get sacked by employers for different reasons.
In Germany where he partly originates for instance, Bayern Munich which is the dominating and most successful club there have fired several “successful” coaches in the past that have won some laurels for them. Most recently on the list, was Nico Kovac. He won the Domestic League and Cup titles the same year (“The Double” as it is called) and then got fired during the next season. In other less big club, almost everyone will protest the decision. That´s one of the reasons why Bayern München dominate since years. This is their 10th consecutive league title chase. Players and Coaches knows the standard and they would be shown the exit if they falter. Other clubs, just accommodate and wait for the ”right” time to act.
Sacking a coach before a major tournament leaves a sour taste in the mouth no doubt but it is not a rare occurrence, especially in the business of football. “Success” is not a guarantee not to sack a coach especially with bigger clubs who have high standards of operation. The health of the team and set goals of the Team stands above all else. The reason why this is a discussion in Nigeria, is mainly because the NFF has lost its credibility and most people don´t know how it is done elsewhere. And in addition, the inability of most human beings to separate emotions when making critical decisions.
I am neither for nor against the appointment of a local or foreign coach. In my opinion, the better suited candidates should be given the job. Whether this was planned or not, maybe we will all just fall in love with this delicious meal and start asking questions about how the hell did we miss the cook? Just maybe.
You like making noise o. The interim head coach is on course with his scintillating football philosophy which has seen the Eagles winning effortlessly. Good luck Egu, God bless Nigerians.
@Jose, yours was just in few lines and made more sense. I believe Eguavoen is getting the job.
Well said. I want to advice Nigerians to not forget the successes that brought us this far with the news breed of good players we have. It was gotten when our u17 and u20 coaches did a good job now we enjoying them. Let’s not abandon out youth teams .give the u17 and u20 seasoned coaches again. Over few years now our u17 and u20 teams have been doing woefully will good stars showing that the coaches given them are not good enough.