Former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and FIFA executive council member Amaju Pinnick says the job of the senior national team of Nigeria should be handed to caretaker coach Finidi George on a permanent basis, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
The job of the head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria was declared vacant by the NFF following the departure of Jose Peseiro upon the expiration of his contract after the AFCON, where he led the team to a second place finish.
A permanent replacement is expected to be named soon but in the absence of that , on of Peseiro’s assistant Finidi George has been put in temporary charge until at least the end of this month, when a coach is expected to be announced.
Pinnick who was at the helm as the president of the NFF and also employed Finidi as an assistant said, the former Nigeria international has what it takes to lead the team owing to the football education that he has working under some of the best coaches during his playing days.
“Finidi George was one of the best wingers in the world at a point. A player that had a formal internship as a player under one of the best coaches in the world Louis Van Gaal. A player that was excellent at Real Betis”, he said during an interview on Arise TV.
” In Ajax if you know Ajax, you should know they believe in developmental football, where they reach you how to chest, trap and play the ball again. He has all the virtues, so what do we need. This is my strong personal opinion is to encourage him”, he concluded.
When asked about the performance of the team in ten two games Findi handled as interim coach which was against Ghana and Mali during the last international break, he said the results were mixed but he still believed in him as the best option ahead of any domestic or foreign coach.
” He played two friendly games, he lost one and made negative history, because Mali haven’t beaten us in over 40 years, and won one and made positive history, we have not beaten Ghana in over 30 years. Now what do we need to do. To me in my opinion, very strong opinion, personal opinion it doesn’t have to be reckoned with but it’s my strong personal opinion and I am sure Finidi George will be surprised I am saying this.
*I believe I have seen him, I worked with him, I brought him on board as one of the assistant coaches when I was the president, he has some virtues that we need as a coach leadership. He has dexterity and most importantly humility. He has come unscathed, three is no encumbrances. If you pick Finidi and wind him round. You will not see any encumbrance around him”, he further stated.
” I know why I am saying this. There so many information that I have that you don’t have. There are so many things that I know that you don’t know, so we need somebody like Finidi who played under some of the best coaches in the world and also played at that level and also coached one of our indigenous and most successful teams in Africa. What’d do we do with him, we can build capacity around him”, he rounded up saying.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
