Three weeks ago, Nigerian football fans held their deep breath after their talisman striker Victor Osmihen went off injured in Napoli’s 3-2 loss.
Osimhen suffered a nasty facial injury following a collision with Inter Milan Milan’s Skriniar as they both went for the ball.
Although Osimhen had been injured before for Napoli, The severe damage of the injury on his face just by taking a look at it from the screens left many people worried.
But more importantly, Nigerian football fans were worried that their talisman would miss next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
It is normal for the Super Eagles fans to be worried over the striker’s availability as a fully fit Osimhen is needed if the three-time African Champions want to win a fourth continental title in Cameroon.
The 22-year-old has been the country’s top player since he took over from Odion Ighalo and was the team’s leading scorer during the qualifiers.
Osimhen did go through a complicated but successful surgery on his face before it was confirmed that he would miss three months of action, which all but confirmed Nigerians fears.
However, against Napoli report, Osimhen returned to training, although individual training, just two weeks after his surgery.
And a few days later, it was reported that he could make a return earlier than scheduled in the game against AC Milan this weekend- albeit with the aid of a prospective mask.
The latest news means Osimhen will likely be available for Nigeria in Cameroon, which is a massive boost. But while his potential availability is good news for Nigeria, a lot still needs to change if Nigeria are to win their fourth AFCON title.
The three-time African champions just sacked their coach Gernot Rohr with less than four weeks to go before the competition kicks off in Cameroon.
Rohr had been in charge of the team for over five years, but his position became untenable in recent months due to the team’s poor performance.
Rumours of his sack had been coming for some time, and it was confirmed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Sunday night, with former international Austin Eguavoen appointed as his replacement on an interim basis.
However, while Rohr needed to leave as he had taken the team as far as he could, replacing him with Eguavoen does not change anything.
Read more: The Super Eagles are lost under Rohr but sacking him now is not an option
In fact, the Super Eagles hopes of winning a fourth continental title have just taken a massive blow with the decision.
Although he has been in serving in a technical role with the NFF, Eguavoen had not managed a team since 2017, when he was with Sunshine Stars.
This makes his appointment a surprise choice. The former Gent star will be assisted by Paul Aigbogun, Joseph Yobo and Salisu Yusuf, but the track records of these men do not instil confidence.
Yobo has no coaching experience, nor does he possess a coaching certificate. At the same time, Aigbogun’s last two spells in charge of a national team (U20 and home-based Eagles) ended in a disaster.
While Salisu Yusuf is familiar with the team, given he was Rohr’s assistant, it is a disgrace to see him back in a technical capacity with the national team.
The former Kano Pillars man was banned for one year after being caught on camera, receiving bribes to influence his team selection.
And considering what happened with the squad last time out, with the return of Odion Ighalo, it will not be a surprise to see the same situation repeat itself when the AFCON squad is announced.
Also read: Ighalo, Salisu’s return to the Super Eagles send a negative message and show no signs of progress
However, Eguavoen is likely to stick with most of the players used by Rohr because he has no time to create his own team before the competition starts.
Tactics may change, but a majority of the players will be the same. It will be interesting to see how the players take his ideas.
Still, with just over three weeks before the competition starts, Eguavoen’s appointment as Rohr’s replacement changes nothing with the Super Eagles.
This post was last modified on December 16, 2021 2:10 pm
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I am very ashamed that we Nigerians have no confidence in our local coaches, Rohr has coaches Nigeria for more than five years and he has won nothing for Nigeria, why do we like failure? Why are we always afraid of change? Rohr will never win anything because he doesn't have the technical and tactical knowledge to propel the team to any big win.
In 2001 Nigeria sacked Bondrere after we lost to Sierra Leone which coincidentally was their only victory, as at that time Nigeria was third behind Liberia and Ghana, Amadu Shuaibu and Stephen Keshi took the team and won the remaining matches.
Unfortunately NFA fired them and brought in Onigbinde who dropped 80% of the players that qualified Nigeria for the tournament.
Nigerian most successful coach till date is Stephen Keshi, who is a Nigerian man.
Why don't we have faith in our local coaches who have won all the junior laurels for us.
It is quite unfortunate that we have found ourselves in this situation, but we all know that sacking of Rohr was inevitable due to recent performances. In as much as I don't like the timing of his sack, we don't have to duel so long on that because he wouldn't have won the cup if he had not been sacked.
Also, the choice of Eguavoen is my concern. We have seen his technical capacity and I don't think he would do better. We should have involved those who are current with the latest tactics like Amunike or Finidi. I believe the two can work together and use the nations cup to showcase themselves.
Nevertheless, let us just watch the games and not put much hope on the Super Eagles.
Egwavon has not been a good coach from the time he ventured into coaching. His track records are there for everyone to peruse. He even took the home based SE to play in the USA only recently, and his team was bashed with 4:0 by Mexico. Amunike and Finidi George would have been better, because, they both have coaching certificates and are more intuned with modern day football. I think that Pinnick is playing, the "Edo partnership games" with sport loving Nigerians, by putting Egwavon and Aigbogun, who has nothing to offer, even at the under 17 level to coach the SE. Only time will tell with this new coaching crew. Why replace incompetence with ineptitude?
It's all been said. Nobody is against local coaches. Keshi was there and did not fail.
Eguavon is a different matter. He has never been a mark of success. Even in the senior team, his defensive blunders caused the team dearly.
Someone that hasn't known any success with any team including a junior team will end up being a nightmare for the nation.
I just hope the NFF wasn't under a sort of spell while making this crew.
There are definitely better Nigerian coaches to give a chance, even if they're younger!!
I believe NFF was under weed before taking that decision, no normal being will take such decisions, two errors at a time, sacking Rohr one error appointing Eguavon so ridiculous , my wife is a Nigeria I can’t let my children to represent such country,
Why do we Nigerians choose to go from shit to shit? We have Emmanuel Amuneke and George Finidi, who are coaches with track records and in tune with modern-day football. It is not late to bring them in. Eguavon led Super Eagles to 4-0 bashing by Mexico. He will lead Super Eagles to 6-0 bashing by Egypt as he has no creative coaching in terms of attacking tactics. Rohr would have done better in Mexico. But the two defensive-oriented coaches possess shit records and stinking shit tactics. Shit is shit, and can only ooze out shitting odors! No matter how NFF might pretend to camouflage this shitting coaching appointment. This shit appointment is a shitting embarrassment that has no benefit to Nigerians other than to extend Mexico bashing in Cameroon. No wonder why many companies are warming up to withdraw their investment from NFF! With this shit arrangement by NFF and the looming shit results from Super Eagles at the Nation's Cup, fans would be definitely shift their attention to oversea games. But it is not late for the NFF to bring Amuneke, Ginidi or other great coaches.
There is a saying , be careful what you pray for . Was it not you all praying for the sacking of Rohr just 3 weeks before a big tournament. Where was Nigeria under Oliseh? After 2 unsuccessful attempts by others Rohr took Nigeria to AFCON . Nigeria had no chance of winning the World Cup . Again he qualified the team for the final qualifiers for the World Cup and AFCON. So what makes him a failure. A list of 40 players has already been submitted by Rohr, so it will be his selection of players. The style will no don’t change but not much elsewhere as it has been pointed out, the assistants have little or no experience. But the players will step up their game. The NFF should have appointed a successor in order for him to use the tournament to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers, by observing and working with the players. But hey if a man has achieved his mandate and sacked then what else is there to say. How many Homebase boys are in the 40 . Which of the 40 hadn’t been given a chance . Amuneke was coach of Tanzania and they were woeful. Finidi George has just started.. it’s time to get rid of the NFF Chairman , re sharp the organisation’s set up and invest in the National football league But a Nigerian is a Nigeria wherever he is born so this Homebase or abroad debate should stop and just find the best legs for Eagles . Maybe tensing them to Green Eagles would not go a miss too