The Nigeria Football Federation on Monday announced the reconstitution of the technical crew of the Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles, with Augustine Eguavoen staying as Interim Technical Adviser while former Nigeria World Cup star and former U20 Boys’ Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke drafted in as immediate assistant to Eguavoen.

One of the most garlanded footballers to have come out of Nigeria, Amuneke scored both goals that won Nigeria the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations final match against Zambia in Tunis, scored the goal that won Nigeria and Africa’s first Olympic football gold medal in 1996 and played in the 1994 and 1996 FIFA World Cup finals, scoring two goals in USA ’94.

As coach, the electrifying winger qualified Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and led the Taifa Stars in the finals. He is a Member of both the FIFA and CAF Technical Study Groups.

“The NFF Board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee retaining Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim) while Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles. Salisu Yusuf will be the 2nd Assistant Coach/Chief Coach of the CHAN team and Joseph Yobo will be 3rd Assistant while Aloysius Agu remains the Goalkeepers’ Trainer,” NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi announced.

The reconstitution comes after the Super Eagles’ outing at the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon, and ahead of the potentially –explosive FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 play-off round against the Black Stars of Ghana next month.

Sanusi added: “We acknowledge and appreciate the interest that Mr Jose Peseiro has shown in Nigeria Football during our very cordial discussions and have absolutely no doubt about his capacity. We believe that perhaps in the future, there could be an opportunity to work with him.  However, in view of the positive performance of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations which has given hope to Nigerians and boosted our confidence in the present coaching crew to qualify us for the World Cup in Qatar, we have decided to accept the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee to retain the Eguavoen-led coaching crew and strengthen it with the addition of Emmanuel Amuneke.”

NEW SUPER EAGLES COACHING CREW

Augustine Eguavoen – Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim)

Emmanuel Amuneke – Chief Coach/1st Assistant

Salisu Yusuf – 2nd Assistant/Chief Coach, CHAN

Joseph Yobo – 3rd Assistant

Aloysius Agu – Goalkeepers’ Trainer

Nantes of France and Super Eagles winger Moses Simon was the only Nigerian player named by Skysports in their team of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament which was compiled using matric from Whoscored.com.

Simon who was by far the best Nigerian player at the tournament had an assist and a goal for Nigeria but beyond that his all round play made him the toast of fans of the Nigerian team.

Although Nigeria crashed out of the tournament in the round of 16 losing 0-1 to Tunisia, the 26 year old was  still considered as worthy enough for a spot in the team of the tournament published by Skysports.

In their narration, he pulled a total of 7.60 points making him the highest among Nigerian players at the tournament hence the only one to make the list of the best 11 players of the tournament, which ended yesterday with Senegal emerging as champions after beating Egypt on spot kicks.

Central midfield: Moses Simon (Nigeria and FC Nantes) – 7.60 rating
The sole Nigeria player to make the team of the tournament, Moses Simon was a ball carrying machine up until the Super Eagles’ last-16 exit at the hands of Tunisia. The 26-year-old’s return of five completed dribbles per 90 was more than any other player as he successfully broke the lines to yield a WhoScored.com rating of 7.60.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has moved on from the idea of appointing Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro as first revealed by OwnGoalNigeria.com.

President of the NFF Amaju Pinnick revealed that talks on appointing him as substantive  coach of the Nigerian team stalled due to disagreement on certain clauses in the deal.

OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal the real reason why the Portuguese who was expected to take over from Austine Eguavoen after the Africa Cup of Nations won’t be the coach anymore.

We gathered, the coach was keen on bringing his backroom staff after initial agreeing to work with the ones provided for him by the NFF. He didn’t stop there as unlike sacked former coach Gernot Rohr he wanted the NFF to pick up the bills of his assistants.

Because of that he amended the already agreed deal that was sent to him to sign and return back to the football house. In amending it he demanded for more money to cater for the assistants he is bringing to work with him.

Upon receiving the amended contract draft from Peseiro, the NFF felt uncomfortable in engaging him as he has already started off on the wrong foot by going against what was verbally agreed with him. It’s why he wasn’t in Cameroon as said in the press release that confirmed him as coach of the Nigerian team.

Pinnick has already given his blessings to Peseiro that he can go ahead and get another job as the NFF won’t be appointing him as coach due to the aforementioned issues.

In an interview Pinnick said an agreement wasn’t reached with the coach after the initial approval of his appointment as terms of the deal wasn’t signed and it will stay same.

It means Austine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for their World Cup 2022 playoff game against Ghana in March. An announcement is said to be imminent.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has moved on from the idea of appointing Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro as first revealed by OwnGoalNigeria.com.

President of the NFF Amaju Pinnick revealed that talks on appointing him as substantive  coach of the Nigerian team stalled due to disagreement on certain clauses in the deal.

In an interview Pinnick said an agreement wasn’t reached with the coach after the initial approval of his appointment as terms of the deal wasn’t signed and it will stay same.

We gathered, the coach was keen on bringing his backroom staff after initial agreeing to work with the ones provided for him by the NFF. He didn’t stop there as unlike sacked former coach Gernot Rohr he wanted the NFF to pick up the bills of his assistants.

Because of that he amended the already agreed deal that was sent to him to sign and return back to the football house. In amending it he demanded for more money to cater for the assistants he is bringing to work with him.

Upon receiving the amended contract draft from Peseiro, the NFF felt uncomfortable in engaging him as he has already started off on the wrong foot by going against what was verbally agreed with him. It’s why he wasn’t in Cameroon as said in the press release that confirmed him as coach of the Nigerian team.

Pinnick has already given his blessings to Peseiro that he can go ahead and get another job as the NFF won’t be appointing him as coach due to the aforementioned issues.

It means Austine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for their World Cup 2022 playoff game against Ghana in March. An announcement is said to be imminent.

Former coach of the Nigeria U17 and U20 team Emmanuel Amuneke has aired his views on his reported appointment by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as part of the technical crew of the senior national team of Nigeria.

Amuneke as first reported by this portal had been added to the Austine Eguavoen led crew as part of the move by the NFF to beef up the technical crew ahead of the World Cup playoff against Ghana in March.

We gathered he will be part of the assistant of Eguavoen who will work on a mandate to deliver the World Cup ticket to Nigeria. Amuneke however denied that he has been offered the chance of joining the crew.

In an interview with Sporting Sun, the coach who is back in Spain after working for CAF  as part of the technical study group at the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations said no contact has been made so far. Although he said he will make a decision when he is contacted.

“I’m not aware of any appointment with the Super Eagles or any job with the Nigerian government. I just return to my base in Spain from the CAF Technical Study Group duty at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and I read the story of my appointment from the Internet,” he was quoted as saying by Sporting Sun Emma Jemegah.

“I was in the team’s hotel in Cameroon countless times and there was no time the appointment was discussed with me. Right now, nobody has contacted me, not even the NFF or the Sports Ministry. Until an offer is made, I will rather not talk on that,” he sounded off.