By Saheed Afolabi
A Nigerian US based football Coach, Anthony Ushurhe has shocked following the resignation of the Technical Director of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguaveon after the senior team failed to secure a place in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Ghana played 1-1 with the hosts, Nigeria but the visiting team qualified for the FIFA World Cup on away goal rule. After the match, coach Eguaveon announced his resignation. The Nigeria Football Federation NFF has withdrawn two years contract offered the coaches and terminated the appointment of the entire coaching crew with immediate effect.
In a statement sent to our correspondent, the former Coach of Messiah FC of Lagos who was shocked over Eguaveon’s resignation said the immediate former Eagles coach had done well with the time he spent as a chief coach of the senior nation team and urged the members of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to give him a second chance.
“The resignation of Eguaveon came to me as a rude shock. It was not the fault of Eguaveon for Eagles’s poor run against Ghana but I blame the so called invited foreign players who were match rusty throughout the encounter. I am using this medium to call on NFF to review the Eagles last match and reconsider Eguaveon to handle the team in the nearest future,” he said.
The Delta born football US trained coach cautioned the Nigeria football ruling body not to hire a foreign coach insisting that only the local coaches can handle the Eagles and give local players a chance to the senior national team.
He said Eguaveon sudden resignation was due to the pressure from various quarters after Eagles failed to deliver at the Abuja Stadium noted that for Nigeria senior team to bounce back, NFF needs a Nigerian coach instead of shopping for another foreign coach.
“We need to prepare early for next World Cup. If you look at the Senegal national team, it is being handled by local coach. I think why we should look in that direction so that we can start early preparation for future competitions. This time around, we need a Nigerian coaches who would give local players a chance so that the so that the numbers of foreign players that would be invited to the Eagles assignments in the nearest future would be minimal.” he said.
