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1980 Africa Cup of Nations winner Segun Odegbami has applauded the appointment of Finidi George as the new Super Eagles head coach while name-dropping the ideal assistant for the former Ajax winger, Soccernet.ng reports.
A consistent advocate for local coaches handling the national teams, Odegbami is convinced that Finidi is a perfect fit to be Jose Peseiro's assistant.
In his weekly column in the Vanguard, Odegbami wrote:
“So, with joy in my heart, I welcome Finidi George, a fine gentleman, a respected and vastly experienced ex-international football player trained by foreign coaches.
“These are invaluable qualities that can’t be bought in the marketplace. He has been to the mountaintop of success several times and can, therefore, guide the National team there again and even beyond!
“Finidi acquired the highest coaching certificates and worked as an assistant to the last White coach. So, he, like several of his colleagues of the 1994 generation, is ready!
“Now, he brings all of that and adds to them what foreign coaches would never have in a million years – the deep knowledge of domestic Nigerian football, understanding the psyche of Nigerian players and their football culture of all-out ‘attacking football’ driven by unique skills honed on the bad training grounds all over the country.
“When you add to these the organizational knowledge found in European football, a good Nigerian as coach can breed the best players ready to play anywhere in the world without fear or intimidation. That’s what is in prospect for Nigeria as Finidi mounts the saddle.”
However, there is the little matter of who should be Finidi's assistant coach that is yet unattended to.
The Nigeria Football Federation left out that part when announcing Finidi's appointment, and it has started to dominate the conversations in the country.
Reports suggest that the NFF is considering picking one of Finidi's former international teammates, Daniel Amokachi or Emmanuel Amunike, for the role.
However, former Super Eagles defender Ifeanyi Udeze believes such a move would be counterproductive as Amokachi and Amunike also contested for the Super Eagles coaching job before losing out to Finidi.
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Odegbami has toed a similar line, revealing that Sylvanus Okpala has the right temperament, qualifications, and experience to complement Finidi.
“He (Finidi) must not embark on this journey alone and must have assistants that will add value to the technical team,” Odegbami added.
“In my opinion that I know will be vehemently opposed to by several journalists, particularly, is Sylvanus Okpala.
“Largely under-rated by those who can’t see beneath his seeming brashness and loudness, ‘Quicksilver' packs unique, deep technical knowledge of football that can complement Finidi’s calmness and intelligence.”
Finidi's first task as head coach is guiding Nigeria to face South Africa on June 3 in a matchday three fixture of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
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I salute Mr Segun for his deep sense of wisdom and patriotism, indeed I concur with him ,Mr Okpala should be called to assist the newly appointed coach of the super Eagles,if it’s done the sky is even not the limit for our beloved super Eagles. I hope those who are in charge can for once see reason to do the right thing. The combination of both newly appointed coach and that of quick silver Okpala will bring glory back to Nigeria national teams , I believe they will not only win the AFCON but they will go on and conquer the WORLD.
For once, I totally agree with the opinion of Segun Odegbami.
A French man will say : “Parfait, ça marche” .
Beautiful and logical argumentation, I agree for the pair FINIDI – OKPALA !
The Daga-Bah
Well Odegbami has expressed an opinion but it is for Finidi George to select the ones he sees fit . Let’s give him a chance to work wirh the ones he feels comfortable with . He knows the job at hand and with his experience he knows what to do in order to deliver . Let’s get behind him and make the team great again.
I don’t even believe that Amunike will accept to be Finidi’s assistance. He suffered for the ridicule he got from Eguaveon’s not qualifying for the last World Cup. He will not make that mistake again.
Towing the path of others, suggesting OKPALA be chosen to assist, Coach FINIDI is wisdom well thought out and the likes of Emmanuel Amunike/Daniel Amokachi be relegated to the back ground; till another day.
l completely agree with mathematical Odegbami.Quick silver remains the best match reader ever in the history of the super eagles.He was there when Keshi won the nations cup in south Africa.But my fear is whether his will accept the appointment to assist finidi George.
Wonderful insight sir and great suggestion. However, we will be looking for great trouble here, It will be very worrisome having your father as your assistant,.
This suggested scenario can never work as they will be strange bed fellows and it will be failure before start.
I will rather suggest that Finidi should be left alone to choose who he deems fit (may be bring in some foreigners that are technically sound and who can effectively read matches. This is one area most Nigerian coaches are lacking) Stephen Keshi was given the onus of bringing in his Togolese assistant and there was relative peace amongst the coaching crew.
Big Seg, Segun Odegbami himself can recollect during his Era as a player when a consortium of local coaches were drafted at a time to coach the eagles it all ended up in a big disaster as the coaches ended up in physical battles amongst themselves and even ended up dividing the team players too. That was the case of James Peters, Salami,Paul Hamilton and Onigbinde I think. if my memory serves me right.
Dead on arrival , I personally would say.
good thinking….good products