Nigerian flag will not be flying in the Olympics Football arena next year following the failure of the Salisu Yusuf tutored Under 23 Eagles against Guinea which ended in a 2:0 aggregate qualifier loss.
Also, the Super Eagles only managed to defeat Guinea Bissau 1:0 away in an Afcon qualifier following a disgraceful 1:0 home loss last week in Abuja.
Following the slim victory, a revitalised Coach Peseiro realeased a statement which partly reads: "We remain determined to continue the hard work and bring glory to our team. With each game, we are more motivated to achieve our goals. The journey ahead may be long and challenging, but we are ready to face any obstacle that comes our way.”
To be honest, I see a bit of Gernot Rohr in this current Super Eagles Gaffer: a coach who is willing to bend to the inept, corrupt and incompetent ways of the Nigeria Football Federation.
Left to me, I will just leave him to do the job until the end of the Afcon next February whereupon he and Nigeria can part ways under mutual consent.
The truth of the matter is that no highly organized coach, foreign or even indigenous, can achieve anything meaningful with the Super Eagles under the current chaotic and caustic climate created by our football administrators.
Peseiro, like Rohr before him, is resigned to his fate. We the fans blame him for “poor squad selection” but a local media outlet ran a story which suggested that Victor Boniface chose to decline Super Eagles invitation (for the recent Afcon qualifiers) because he refused to be responsible for his own flight tickets – under a stupid system that would see him attempt to claim it back.
If true, this would suggest to me that Peseiro is restricted to only players who are willing to pay for their own flight tickets to games (only to be owed for many many weeks the reimbursement of the same tickets, for the “privilege” of playing for Nigeria).
Just imagine!
I suspect my comments on Nigerian football will start to reduce in the coming weeks and months. Things are really bad and failure can be the only logical expectation of any rational Nigeria fan based on how repugnant our football is being managed.
– Under 20 World Cup: failure looming.
– Women’s World Cup: failure looming.
– Under 17 Afcon: failure looming.
– Under 23 Afcon: failed venture
– Qatar World Cup: failed venture.
Failure, Failure, Failure! this is the legacy of the NFF under recent administrators.
Back to my point above: I will just leave Jose Peseiro alone to finish the job he started.
I expect him to qualify Nigeria for the 2023 Afcon where we should expect to crash out in the quarter finals. If we are lucky, we will reach the semi-finals and eventually come out forth (which I will celebrate under the current hellish circumstances that the NFF has plunged us into).
I thank Almighty God for witnessing the 1994 and 2013 Afcon victories. God I thank you for the 1996 Olympic Gold.
NFF I thank you for the current unshakable cloud of failure, despair and despondency hanging around all our national teams.
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