The Nigerian Football Federation has announced that Augustine Eguavoen will continue as the interim manager of the Super Eagles, while Emmanuel Amuneke will serve as the chief coach.
After German tactician Gernot Rohr was sacked last December, the NFF appointed Eguavoen as interim boss of the Super Eagles to lead Nigeria through the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The NFF also decided on the appointment of Portuguese tactician Jose Peseiro to take over from Eguavoen after the AFCON.
However, following the Super Eagles’ performance at the AFCON in which they won all three of their group stage games but were unfortunately knocked out by Tunisia in the knockout stages, the NFF have reconsidered their stance.
The Nigerian football governing body were initially mute on the fate of Eguavoen after the AFCON but finally released a statement on Monday announcing their decision.
“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,” a statement from the NFF official website read.
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“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.
“We acknowledge and appreciate the interest that Mr Jose Peseiro has shown in Nigeria Football during our very cordial discussions and have absolutely no doubt about his capacity.
“We believe that perhaps in the future, there could be an opportunity to work with him.
“However, in view of the positive performance of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations which has given hope to Nigerians and boosted our confidence in the present coaching crew to qualify us for the World Cup in Qatar, we have decided to accept the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee to retain the Eguavoen-led coaching crew and strengthen it with the addition of Emmanuel Amuneke.”
Amuneke is not a stranger to Nigeria coaching reins. He was the coach of the team that won the 2015 Under-17 World Cup. Indeed, some of the products of that team like Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze are now very important players in the Super Eagles squad.
Amuneke has also led charge of local teams like Julius Berger and Ocean Boys. The former Barcelona man is famously known to have led Tanzania to qualify for the 2019 AFCON, the country’s second-ever appearance at the tournament.
Nigerians will be hopeful that he uses his experience to guide the Super Eagles to a World Cup spot in Qatar.
Nigeria will face Ghana in a double-legged World Cup playoffs to see who goes through to the competition. Both matches will be played in March.
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