Augustine Eguavoen was in charge of the Super Eagles at the AFCON 2021 tournament in Cameroon after the dismissal of Gernot Rohr.
The Nigeria Football Federation have labelled the appointment of former Super Eagles right-back, Augustine Eguavoen as the interim head coach of the Nigerian national team as a joke taken too far, Soccernet.ng reports.
Eguavoen, 58, has been NFF's Technical Director since 2020 and led the Nigerian team to a round of sixteen defeat against Tunisia at the 2021 AFCON tournament.
Portuguese tactician, Jose Peseiro, led the three-time AFCON Champions to a second-place finish at the AFCON 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast, but his contract expired at the end of last month.
Following the exit of the 63-year-old, it was widely reported that Augustine Eguavoen will be in charge of the Nigerian football team pending the time a permanent solution is sorted.
As per The Nation Online, the news of Eguaveon taking over on an interim basis is completely false, and their source was quoted saying;
“There’s nothing for Eguavoen as far as I know, and, in fact, nobody ever mentioned him in any capacity for the Super Eagles. I think those guys are just joking. Nobody has mentioned Eguavoen as Super Eagles’ interim manager.”
Several names have been linked with the vacant position aside from Eguaoveon. Enyimba's NPFL winning coach and Peseiro's assistant – Finidi George, FIFA U-17 World Cup winner with the Golden Eaglets in 2015 – Emmanuel Amuneke, and Samson Sia Sia the prominent figures linked with the job of taking over the Nigerian national team.
The Nigerian Football Federation has yet to make an official statement on who will be in charge of the Super Eagles during the next International break coming up between March 18th and March 26th.
Jose Mourinho is our best option
miracle. abeg, Jose will certainly be a worse choice
Siasia please NFF.
Yes, Siasia is the best
Whoever the coach will be should teach the team to be able to make accurate passes. That , inaccurate passes, has remained a major weakness with the team for a long time.
Amunike is the best option for now , he has proven himself with the U17 and most of this guys playing for SE are his boys , siasia is also good but he has been sidelined by the fifa ban for sometime now. nff should do the needful ASAP.
Alex, has finally said the obvious and tactical and wise saying. Your boys are ya boys, no matter their status and affluence etc…These boys in SE were ones in the junior team and groomed by Amuneke…infact most of them besides the foreign returnees were all selected into the national junior team by Amuneke…
talk about respect and loyalty and admiration and gratitude, the SEboys will easily give it to Amuneke ..cos they love him….
To the master whom ya love, ya obey…
Notably, the other countries are also fielding those same boys who played in the junior tournament with ours ..and the edge the white man and some of the other countries have and record as successful wins is the fact of continuity …They keep the indigenous coaches who have groomed their players from junior squad.
i am that footballer who did not play for Eagles during ma secondary school days as they were not treated well both players and indigenous coaches..for search of another man’s culture over ours…
Wisdom is Light’ and anything away from this wise advice to pitch Amuneke to ripe the fruit of his labour…will not yield the fantastic ambition of winning the world cup. If 1994 Atlanta is real, then Super Eagles would soar again with the Right strength upon their wings…Amuneke by God’s Mercy.
#Amunike#
We don’t play football with past glory and sentiments. The distance between Amuneke and the boys are too wide that he couldn’t even vote for Osimhn that will be the beginning of the destruction of the team we have build with senior team coaches. Finidi George is currently coaching a caf championship team in the last 3yrs and an able assistant to Jose Peseiro and might even meet pesiero in the champions league if he takes up the Egyptian job. not a coach who has been out of job for 3yrs. They failed to qualify the team with Egueavon to Caf quarter finals and Qatar world cup. Finidi snd the coaches of the team should carry on as we saw in the vote d ivore team.
@ Price Ekubo,
Amunike was not eligible to vote at CAF Awards because he was not coaching any national team at that time. Not everybody can vote. Only teams captains, coaches and designated persons could vote.
Moreover, the video that circulated about him not voting for Osimhen was presented to look as if Osimhen was in the question, hence, it was sinister and deceptive.
Amunike has cleared the air concerning the video. He was only asked “between Salah and Hakhimi, who will he vote for?” He responded, “Salah”. So, Osimhen wasn’t in the question. It was a comparison between two Arab players. But you know, the social media always presents issues in a sinister motive to cause disaffectuon and confusion. That’s by the way.
NFF should act really quickly to appoint a substantive coach. World Cup qualification is around the corner. The earlier we have a substantive coach and prepare early, the better. The NFF shouldn’t allow the South Africans to be laughing at our shoddy preparation. We need to bring in new players, especially midfielders, into the fold and play friendlies to test our strength. The earlier the better!
Samson Sia Sia, if he has upgraded his knowledge since his ban which will expire soon.. That’s my condition