It’s 90 minutes between Super Eagles and a seventh World Cup appearance.
Picking the World Cup ticket on home soil is the best thing that could happen to any country or team.
Super Eagles picked their first ever World Cup ticket in faraway Algeria. That was for USA ’94
It would be nice to see indigenous coaches Austin Eguavoen and Emmanuel Amunike qualify Nigeria for Qatar 2022.
Amodu Shuaibu twice qualified the team and Stephen Keshi equally qualified the team in 2014. Eguavoen and Amunike can add their names to the list of honour.
Should Eguavoen and Amunike lead Eagles to book this all important ticket then, the duo would have made a bold statement.
That statement simply is that the NFF should henceforth jettison the idea of hiring or employing foreign coaches for the national team.
The statement would further mean that we should continue to look inwards to use what we have to get what we need.
Already some people are suggesting that if Eguavoen and Amunike fail to book the World Cup ticket then, no one should canvass or advocate for local or indigenous coaches to handle the Super Eagles anymore.
But truth is that hiring or retaining indigenous coaches is the way to go. The last two winners of AFCON talking about Algeria 2019 and Senegal 2021 were handled by indigenous coaches.
The hungrier of both teams (Super Eagles and Black Stars) will qualify. But a lot will depend on the coaches of both teams. Eguavoen and Amunike have a lot to do even as their job is clearly cut out. Pick the ticket for Nigeria.
The more dogged and physically stable team is likely to pick this ticket. Again, the coaches know their players and those better stable physically to deliver this ticket.
Eguavoen and Amunike the ball is now in your court. It is make or mar for you and your colleagues…the indigenous coaches. You have to make them proud.
