SUPER EAGLES: Peseiro, Amunike, and Oliseh don’t have the pedigree; it is either a top coach or Finidi with foreign assistants.

As the NFF searches for a new coach for the Super Eagles, most of us are more interested in candidates that will foster our personal, ethnic, or even religious interests than that of our football and the nation Olukayode Thomas report.

 Introduction

The only reason that has not been advanced by Nigerians in our search for a new Super Eagles coach is that the position has been dominated by a particular religion for too long and that it is time to have a Traditionalist, Muslim, or Christian as the next Super Eagles coach.

That is the way we are.

When it comes to employing housekeepers for our families or staff for our private companies, we will apply all the rules in the book to ensure the right person and the most qualified is appointed or employed but when it comes to recruiting for the nation, merit is jettisoned, and nepotism takes over.

Jose Peseiro, Emmanuel Amunike, and Sunday Oliseh are the forerunners being pushed by the mainstream sports reporters and their social media branch, most of whom are wannabe reporters, but the truth is most of us will not employ any of the trio if we own or run a private football club. 

Let facts speak.

Just like Pinnick who employed him, Peseiro is an affliction that must not reoccur.

 When news filtered in that the NFF was considering renewing Peseiro’s contract, many lovers of football were demoralized. 

The Minister of Sports, John Enoh, could be forgiven if reports that he insisted that the NFF keep Peseiro in charge for the remainder of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying games were true.

They say every animal produces after its kind, it’s only a man like Amaju Pinnick whose over two decades of public service at Delta FA, Delta Sports Commission, and NFF ended without a legacy that will employ a failed coach like Peseiro.

Before Pinnick employed him, Peseiro worked with Carlos Quiroz at Real Madrid, they were fired before the ink they used to write their employment letters ran dry because of poor results.

He was also sacked at Panathinaikos and Rapid Bucharest for the same reason.

In Saudi Arabia, Peseiro was not just sacked because of poor results; but for losing to Syria, the poorest team in the region.

He had to leave Braga by mutual consent. At Al-Ahly of Egypt, he was sacked within days of employment because the fans could not tolerate his poor performances.

At the Portuguese elite club Porto, Peseiro lasted only a few months. When he went back to Braga, he was sacked as soon as he was re-employed, while his sojourn with Sporting CP - another Portuguese club - lasted only 123 days. Peseiro’s last place of work before Nigeria was Venezuela, he went AWOL.

Because Pinnick knew he was employing an Aba-made coach he smuggled him in like a thief in the night.

Thank God Pinnick and Peseiro are gone, affliction will not arise again.

Nothing in Amunike’s resume makes him deserve the Eagle's job.

Those selling Amunike as the next best thing that will happen to our football are skillful and ubiquitous, but the truth is the car they are trying to sell has no brainbox.

NFF president needs to take panasharp and not panadull like his predecessor Pinnick so that he won’t fall for this scam.

 Whereas Amunike's playing career is filled with glowing and resplendent achievements, his coaching career goes in the opposite direction.

Fine, he has all the certificates and deep theoretical knowledge of football but when it comes to the practical aspect, the results have been poor.

After completing his coaching course in Europe, he had a brief stint at Al Hazm in Saudi Arabia.

Amunike’s foray into coaching in Nigeria has been greeted with sacks at Julius Berger and Ocean Boys.

He was sacked at the Egyptian club Misr El-Makassa after just two games in charge.

Tanzania’s football federation also sacked Amunike after a disappointing Afcon elimination. Amunike qualified Tanzania for Afcon after about three decades but at the championship, the country finished bottom of their group without recording any points from their three games.

Amunike also joined Zanaco with the mandate of changing the fortune of the club, but he was unable to change the situation and those in charge asked him to leave.

It was a similar story at Sudan’s Al Khartoum Watani though Amunike claimed he left because of unpaid salaries.

Many will argue that sacking is part of coaching, true but Mourinho one of the most sacked coaches in the world today also has trophies to show for his foray, Peseiro and Amunike have none.

Winning the U-17 World Cup is not good enough to coach the Eagles.

Amunike’s only UPS by his marketer was that he led Nigeria to win the U-17 World Cup but football aficionados with ears to the grass know how we win U-17 World Cup. We currently hold the world record with five trophies, Brazil is second with four.

Let’s not wash our dirty linen in public but the reason why we win U-17 World Cup, a FIFA Development tournament, is because we use many players like Chrisantus Macauley instead of players like Toni Kroos.

Both were born in 1990, Kroos on January 4, and Chrisantus on August 20, which means the German is older.

At the 2007 U-17 World Cup where both players announced themselves to the world, Chrisantus helped Nigeria win the tournament, he was the highest goal scorer and the second-best player, Kroos won the Golden Ball.

After the champions, Kroos continued his development and between 2007 and today, he has won the FIFA World Cup and European Championships and almost everything in football.

Our boy Chrisantus is still developing. In the quest to develop and be a world-class star, he has played for about 17 football clubs across Europe between 2007 and today. He is currently with Lynx FC, a football club in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.

Amunike does not have the monopoly of winning the U-17 World Cup, Sebastian Broderick-Imasusen won the championship in 1985, Fanny Amun in 1983, 2007 a football instructor at the NIS, Yemi Tella won it, Manu Garba did in 2013, and Amunike in 2015.

Promotion of coaches based on success at U-17 has always been a disaster. Amun’s promotion to Flying Eagles was a disaster leading to his being nicknamed fumbling and wobbling.

His promotion to Super Eagles with Bora Milutinovic also fails.

Like Amun, Amunike also fumbled and wobbled with Flying Eagles as Sudan edged out Nigeria in the qualifier for the 2017 African Championships, with the Super Eagles Amunike assisted Austin Eguavoen and both failed to qualify the Eagles for the 2022 FIFA World Cup

One dubious argument by Amunike’s marketers is to give him credit for the success of our U-17 team when he assisted Garba in 2013 and exonerate him from Eguavoen’s failure in 2022.

This is the height of hypocrisy, it’s like former Vice President Yemi Osibajo identifying with President Buhari’s success and distancing himself from his failures. Once you don’t resign before the ship sinks, you can’t accuse the captain of running a one-man show when you had the opportunity to resign and voice your displeasure before the ship sinks.

 

Oliseh, a top coach, or Finidi with foreign assistants

 Like Amunike, Sunday Oliseh, nicknamed Africa Guardiola by the man that buried our football Pinnick, did not record any significant success in coaching before he was named Super Eagles coach.

Though he has a strong personality, coaching youth teams in the Belgian third division, Verviers, being Chief Coach and Club Manager of RCS VISE also in the Belgium third division, coaching Fortuna Sittard, German club SV 19 Straelen are not enough to coach the Eagles, a reappointment of Oliseh is likely to end in another had in know.

What Nigeria needs is a top coach who understands modern football and can work with our Alamala administrators.

The argument that top European coaches will not work here is not true. Glen Hoddle came here but our shenanigans drove him away, ditto Goran Erickson and others.

Bora and Berti Vogts, a German legend worked here. But if funding is an obstacle to hiring a top-class coach, of the Nigerians being mentioned by the media Finidi has something over others. He has worked as the Director of International Football with a top European football club, Real Betis.

Secondly, unlike his colleagues who have disdain for our terrible NPFL, Finidi is working in our ugly league, and he won the title on the first attempt. Thirdly, he was part of Peseiro's team, and he got on well with Our Boys.

But for Finidi to succeed he needs the support of at least two foreign assistants, one versed in sports science and the other in tactics. If Gusau and his team comb Eastern Europe they will get top technical assistants that will not cost an arm and a leg.

The Eastern Europeans will not only live and work here, but they will also help us develop our football, especially at the youth level.

Gusau needs to take panasharp and jettison Pinnick’s panadull tablet which buried our football.