A cross section of players of the senior national team of Nigeria have voiced their concerns over the delay in naming a substantive coach for the senior national team of Nigeria, following the exit of head coach Jose Peseiro, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria is without a coach since the exit of the Portuguese who led them to a second place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations. In his absence one of his assistants Finidi George handled the team in interim capacity.
Finidi handled the team in the two games they played during the international break. They defeated Ghana 2-1 before losing 0-2 to Mali in the second game. Both games were played in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
Ahead of the resumption of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the NFF has made it clear that a substantive coach will likely be in place by the end of this month, but the players are worried over the pace at which the entire process is going.
” I can tell you we know nothing about the process. If they want to give it to Finidi George it should be made public as soon as possible”, a player who was a part of the team to the AFCON said.
” It’s really going slowly and not making it comfortable for us to plan, because you don’t know who will be the next coach. We should be discussing tactics for the game against South Africa now not who is the coach. It’s worrisome”, another player said via social media when we sought his opinion on the delay.
” Maybe they already have a coach lined up hence the delay. I missed the AFCON and my hope of getting into the team lies on who is the next coach, but for now I can’t even think about it”, one other player said.
Meanwhile all six players that we spoke with agreed that a foreign coach is best for the team, because of the cultural diversity of Nigeria and also the lack of faith in indigenous coaches.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
