Former Nigeria and Watford defender, Sam Sodje, has questioned the mentality of the newly appointed Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 45-year-old played across several English clubs like Brentford, Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Watford, and Leeds United, before retiring with Portsmouth in 2013. He also played five games for the Super Eagles of Nigeria between 2005 and 2009, despite being born in England.
Finidi was confirmed as the official coach of the Super Eagles last month and has taken charge of the team for two World Cup qualifying games, drawing against South Africa and losing to Benin Republic.
The results sparked a reaction from Sodje, who maintained the three-time AFCON winners might not qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“The NFF has to sort themselves out. If you sack him, what are you expecting to get? Well, yes. Coaches are being judged for results. He has not got his results right now. We aim to qualify for the World Cup. If we keep going the way we're going, we won't qualify. So, it's not about Finidi George, it's about what we want. So yes, sacking him might not be the worst idea, because we need to be in the World Cup,” the former Brentford man told Brila.
Sodje also mentioned that his stance is not attacking Finidi's legendary status as an ex-Super Eagles player, but his coaching abilities.
“I'm not talking about Finidi George, the legend. I'm talking about the coach, he's not good enough. He was a legend as a player and manager when he was given the job. I wanted a home-based coach, but when I heard him talk about football, when I heard him talk about you don't need system, philosophy, that got me really bad and that's why I think he's not the right guy because of his mentality of the way he sees the game. They are shown from his game as well,” the former Super Eagles defender added.
Nigeria are currently 5th in Group C, four points behind the leaders, Rwanda, who are on course for a first-ever showdown in the biggest footballing competition in the World.
I liked the comment made by a Nigerian football fan when he summed up the entire Finidi/Super Eagles nightmare: “Well it is better not to qualify than to go and disgrace ourselves on world stage. Let better and more serious African teams represent us”