Former Super Eagles Ifeanyi Udeze has backed the Nigeria Football Federation’s search for a competent Foreign Coach for the Men’s Senior National Team to turn its fortunes around.
Owing to the impasse between the NFF and its financiers, the Nigeria government through the Sports Ministry, the Super Eagles has remained without a substantial Coach since the dismissal of the entire Technical crew in March following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
It is understood that the NFF want to hire a foreign Manager, but the Ministry prefers a Nigerian to take charge at the helms.
Meanwhile, the 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifiers gets under way later this month and despite rumors that assistant Coach Salisu Yusuf could be in charge of the Super Eagles against Sierra Leone in the opening group match, former Eagles LB Ifeanyi Udeze believes there’s not much time left to waste and urged both bodies to reach a compromise.
Udeze added insists the short time left to assemble the team could mean a logical choice is to hire a local Coach in the interim while the search for a qualified, competent Foreign tactician continues.
“Left to me I will prefer a Foreign handler for the Super Eagles because of what just happened,” Udeze revealed on his breakfast program ‘No hold barred’ on Brila FM.
“We had a local coach but we all saw what happened, he failed to qualify us for the World Cup.”
“But if the NFF go ahead to appoint a local coach no problem because there is no time, the 2023 AFCON qualifiers is close but my preferred choice is a Foreign coach,” He said.
In recent times, several top profile Managers have been linked with the Nigeria job including former FC Barcelona Manager Ernesto Valverde, Lauren Blanc and Portuguese Jose Peseiro, all of whom have also been shortlisted by the NFF Technical committee.
