NIGERIA: The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed the appointment of Augustine Eguavoen as an interim Technical Adviser of the Nigeria National Team, Super Eagle, and he will be assisted by the former Nigeria Under-20 national team head coach Emmanuel Amuneke. This was made known to the reporters in a press release on Monday.
NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi noted that Eguavoen was appointed in an acting capacity after the sacking of the Super Eagle’s head coach, Gernot Rohr, in December last year, just before the beginning of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. In March, it will now take complete charge of the Nigeria National team in preparation for the Qatar 2022 world cup play-off against the Black Stars of Ghana.
Other appointments include Salisu Yusuf’s second assistant coach, Joseph Yobo as the third assistant coach, while Aloysius Agu was confirmed as a goalkeeper’s Trainer, Sanusi said.
The NFF Board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee to retain Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim). At the same time, Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles. Salisu Yusuf will be the 2nd Assistant Coach, and Joseph Yobo will be the 3rd Assistant, while Aloysius Agu remains the goalkeepers’ Trainer, Sanusi noted.
Sanusi added that Amuneke had been one of Nigeria’s most decorated players and one time African player of the year.
Therefore Amuneke has done great as a player and has continued to do exceptionally well as a coach; consequently, he will add tremendous value to the Nigeria national team.
Amuneke’s success
Amuneke scored the Nigeria champion’s goal during the 1994 Africa Cup of the nation’s finals against Zambia in Tunisia. He also scored to help Nigeria win medals during the 1996 Olympics and play a part in the 1994 and 1996 FIFA World Cups.
Until Amuneke’s appointment, he was the coach of Tanzania, where he helped the team qualify for the 2019 African Cup of the Nations tournament in Egypt. However, Emuneke is also a FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Technical team member.
Before now, NFF has shown interest in a Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro, who is seen as the successor of Rohr after 2021 AFCON. Because of this, Sanusi appreciated the interest shown by Peseiro for picking interest in the job.
However, the confirmation of Eguavoen and Emuneke and the rest of the coaching crew is due to the positive and remarkable impact made in the just concluded 2021 AFCON tournament in Cameroon. This has made Nigerians believe in the coaching crew and hope they will do better if given the opportunity.
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