Super Eagles players are unhappy with the NFF over the delay in appointing a new coach

A cross-section of Nigerian senior national team players have expressed displeasure with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over the situation of the team’s coaches as the start date of the AFCON qualifiers draws closer. GolNigeria.com own reports.

The team has been without a coach since the departure of Finidi George following a poor performance in the World Cup qualifiers. The NFF, in a statement released, said it would hire an expatriate coach to take charge of the team before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.

However, with less than a month to go until their first match in the series, there is still no coach in sight and the NFF has not said anything about finding a new coach, although coaches have been shortlisted and interviews have been held for the position.

“It’s the players who take charge when things go wrong, but there are a lot of things that need to be in place for us to perform at our best. A coach needs to be in place to study the opponent, give us tactics to execute, but we’re less than a month away from two games and we still don’t have one,” said a veteran player on the team on condition of anonymity.

“We (players) see these things as a step towards failure, but unfortunately the fans don’t see it that way. The NFF has to do better for us to do better in matches of this nature. Our opponents have coaches ready to face us. We don’t even have any idea who will coach us. This is really sad,” said a player who was at the last African Cup of Nations.

Another player who was also at the last Africa Cup of Nations said it is becoming customary to delay the announcement of a new coach, meaning the coach has little or no time to evaluate each player before calling him up or even making him play in matches. “These things need to be planned. It is not like hiring a coach and expecting to win the next match or be sacked like Finidi. It is becoming a habit of the NFF to make these coaches fail by making late announcements.”

Mohamed Mowiz Suleiman