The stakeholders and decision makers of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are set to announce a new coach for the Super Eagles following the departure of Jose Peseiro after his contract ended last month.
Following his departure, the senior team have featured in two friendly games – in preparation for the World Cup qualifiers in June – against the Black Stars of Ghana and the Eagles of Mali, winning one and losing the other, 2-1 and 0-2 respectively.
As appointed to take charge of the team in interim capacities, the Enyimba’s technical adviser, Finidi George was in charge but with not enough backroom staff at the dugout or during training sessions.
The former Ajax player is one of the contenders for the job as coach on a permanent deal, but he doesn’t seem to be favoured after reports of how he handled player’s selection or management during the friendly games.
During one of the games, Finidi was noted to have only used two substitutes in the loss to Mali, with as many as 23 players invited to the friendly games.
It was later revealed that his decision was questioned among many players in the team, most notably Ademola Lookman who bemused at the reason he got few minutes in both games despite a terrific performance at the African cup of Nations back in January/ February.
Speaking to the media on the latest updates surrounding the team and the NFF’s decision on who takes over as the next coach, a board member revealed there was some concern with how Finidi managed that interim role during the two friendly games.
“In the last two games of the Super Eagles. we had too many disgruntled voices on how the team selection was made and also around man management. It’s a friendly game and we are supposed to see new players stake a claim for a spot particularly the last window before the world cup qualifiers resumes.”
“All we saw was the same players we have known and not like we won both games. So the idea of playing the games was lost and nothing came out of the decision of the coach. He didn’t do his chances any good and the fear is that there could be more clashes in the future if he stays in the job permanently. Something we experienced during the time of Sunday Oliseh”, said the board member.
