NFF fiddling as Super Eagles go into friendlies without coach

There is nobody in charge of the Super Eagles as we speak.

No head coach. No interim. No substantive coach.

It has been over a week since the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, officially confirmed that the role was vacant.

The federation had kept mute for several days after Jose Peseiro took to social media to say his goodbyes to the players and fans.

After the NFF’s advertisement for a new manager, the next time they put out any information was announcing a 26-man squad for friendly matches this month against Ghana and Mali.

And true to pattern, one week for the games, we don’t know who will take charge of the team. We don’t even know who picked the players for the fixtures.

“I think the coaching situation is unfortunate,” Deji Faremi, co-owner of Busy Buddies and a sports analyst, tells DAILY POST.

“They knew over a month ago that they wouldn’t continue with Jose Peseiro, that’s when they should have planned and approached other candidates.

“Even Côte d’Ivoire whose coach jumped ship during AFCON have replaced their coach.

“These friendlies are very crucial, and this is poor planning.

“There’s no sense to it. We are fortunate the World Cup qualifiers aren’t until June.”

While describing it as indecisiveness and poor planning within the Glass House, he added: “What will happen is that we will likely waste the opportunity to learn much from the friendly games, and have a coach who can use those games to understand his team better.

“Whoever comes in will be in temporarily.

“Not a situation I thought we would find ourselves in after reaching the AFCON final.”

The NFF claimed it has received over 100 applications for the Super Eagles job.

This comes amid calls for a domestic coach to be put in charge of the three-time African champions.

Names like Emmanuel Amuneke, Augustine Equavoen, Samson Siasia and Sunday Oliseh are being bandied around.

In Faremi’s opinion, it is very likely to happen.

He said: “That’s a strong possibility, yes.

“For one, they can spend less. Because money has been an issue for the NFF in recent times.

“I don’t think it matters. What I care about is how competent the person is.”

So, what are the expectations and targets from Peseiro’s replacement?

“Most important thing will be to get Nigeria to the top of that World Cup qualifiers table.

“The style and method of play is a different thing entirely; we just need to focus on the results right now,” Faremi added.