The Super Eagles star at the African Cup of Nations praises the appointment of Eguavoen after the failed attempt to sign Labbadia

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)’s failed attempt to hire German coach Bruno Labbadia as the head coach of the Nigeria senior national team ahead of their qualifiers has been hailed as a blessing in disguise, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Labbadia was announced by the NFF as the new coach of the Nigerian senior national team, but talks broke down a few days after the announcement due to a disagreement over his tax payments.

This left the NFF with no option but to appoint the club’s technical director Austine Eguavoen as interim coach for the AFCON qualifiers against Benin Republic and Rwanda on September 7 and 10 respectively.

Eguavoen’s appointment has been hailed as a blessing in disguise by one of the team’s stars at the last AFCON, Moses Simon, as he looks ahead to Saturday’s match against Benin Republic in Uyo.

“The atmosphere is already high because coach Eguavoen already knows all the players. He knows the role each one has to play and he gives confidence to the players, but we don’t know the foreign coach (Labbadia), we don’t know his tactics, we don’t know how it will work because you could have the best player sitting on the bench, but I think with Eguavoen he knows everything about us,” Simon told the official NFF channel while speaking about the match and the failed attempt to sign Labbadia.

“He (Eguavoen) knows what is happening in the nation and also in the team because he was not outside the team when he was no longer the coach. He works with the NFF, so he is always within the team, and this is our job and we know what is needed.

“Of course we lost to them 2-1 and this time we don’t want to lose or draw against them. I think we always beat them and the boys know what they have to do to win.”