Eguavoen to continue as Super Eagles coach, Ex-Barcelona star to serve as assistant
Eguavoen to continue as Super Eagles coach, Ex-Barcelona star to serve as assistant
The NFF have finally decided on who leads the team into the crucial World Cup qualifiers next month
Nigerian gaffer Augustine Eguavoen will continue as the interim coach of the Super Eagles, while former Barcelona star Emmanuel Amuneke will serve as his assistant.
Eguavoen was appointed as interim boss of the Super Eagles last December to lead Nigeria to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon after German tactician Gernot Rohr was sacked.
However, days before the start of the African showpiece, the Nigeria Football Federation appointed Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro to lead the three-time African champions after the AFCON.
Nonetheless, under the tutelage of Eguavoen, the Super Eagles put up outstanding performances, winning all three of their group games. Unfortunately, they were ousted in the quarterfinals after a poor 1-0 loss to Tunisia.
After the Nations Cup, the NFF had been silent on whether Eguavoen would continue at his post or whether Peseiro would take over, to lead Nigeria against Ghana in the crucial World Cup qualifiers.
But on Monday, they released a statement via their website stating that Eguavoen would continue as interim coach. They also drafted Amuneke to serve as his assistant.
“The NFF Board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee, retaining Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim), while Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles.”
“Salisu Yusuf will be the 2nd Assistant Coach/Chief Coach of the CHAN team, and Joseph Yobo will be 3rd Assistant while Aloysius Agu remains the Goalkeepers’ Trainer,” the statement read.
Amuneke coached the team that won the 2015 Under-17 World Cup, and some of the products of that team like Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze have formed core parts of the Super Eagles.
The Last time Eguavoen was sacked while on the Super Eagles job was after a loss to Ghana, and he would hope that this time, he would do enough to earn Nigeria a World Cup ticket and prevent history from repeating itself.
