With the qualifying series for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations set to kick off in June, some fans have expressed concerns over the Nigeria Football Federation’s delay in appointing a new coach for the Super Eagles since the exit of interim coach Austin Eguavoen in March.
Eguavoen stepped down as the Eagles’ head coach following the failure of Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
Since the sacking of German, Gernot Rohr in December, the NFF is yet to name a substantive coach for the Eagles.
While it is believed that Portuguese, Jose Peseiro is the leading candidate to become the new head coach, several other names like former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde, ex-PSG and France coach Laurent Blanc, former PSV Eindhoven manager Phillip Cocu and former Sampdoria and Cagliari manager Walter Zenga, have all been touted as possible candidates for the vacant Eagles head coach position.
However, some football faithful have voiced their frustrations over the delay in announcing a new coach for the national team.
“It is really sad with what is going on with our national team,” Wole Popoola told The PUNCH.
“It is just a month to the AFCON qualifiers and the Eagles are yet to have a coach, do we expect magic to just happen or what is it that we don’t know?”
Emmanuel Adebayo said he won’t be surprised if Nigeria failed to qualify for the AFCON.
“It will not come as a surprise to me if the Eagles don’t qualify for the AFCON; why can’t we have a coach with just a month to the qualifiers?
“Why are the people in NFF destroying our football this way? It’s been over a month since Eguavoen vacated the position and nothing has been done. It’s really bad.”
“Nothing seems to be working in this country and even football that used to give us joy has joined the trend,” Agatha Dennis said.
Abuchi John added, “I am tired of talking about the Eagles because I am yet to come to terms that we won’t be at the next World Cup, and knowing that we don’t even have a coach yet really makes me angry.”
Credit: punchng.com
