After 4-0, a very teachable moment.

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OJI
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After 4-0, a very teachable moment.

Post by OJI »

We can't let this loss be just another loss. It provides another teachable moment.

We need Eguavoen as the technical director of the NFF in the year of our Lord 2022 to give a very public review/analysis of what transpired. We can't have him sitting on the fence this time enabling matters.

Let me be clear. The last person I would want to coach Nigeria now is Augustine Owen Eguavoen.

What is ongoing is very clear that the coaching staff, and the technical department are not up to par.
The dysfunction being paraded by the players is highly correlated with the dysfunctional set up of the coaching staff, and the technical committee as headed by Eguavoen.

Peserio must be thanked for experimenting with the players and their callup, and in the attempt at fashioning some forward momentum after the WC non qualification.

What is also very clear is there is no football identity anymore in the national team set up. The coach must decide first and foremost what is expected of a modern professional footballer in the system he is trying to execute as opposed to cobbling players from different leagues, systems and philosophies, and expecting the best.

There is also the issue of continuing to play players who switched allegiances despite ongoing team adjustment or misfit issues.

What is apparent, and this is not limited to Nigeria alone, is you have modern players who thrive in their clubs because of cohesion, and compensations put in place to amplify a player's strength and/or minimize their weaknesses.

No national team coach has the luxury of time available to a club coach. It is therefore imperative for a Nigerian coach to double down, and provide additional, actionable insights to players he is interested in, to improve certain aspects of their game before national assignments.

This is the price to be paid as Nigeria outsourced player development to foreign leagues. This is the price of a very faulty assumption that being a foreign professional means possession of solid fundamentals. This is the price to be paid in the absence of a decent local league. Some of the players who went to Europe have had uneven, and faulty trajectories in their development.

The coaching staff, and the technical committee must do extra than is done in other countries with functioning leagues.
They have to see their roles as compensatory, and act as such.There must be additional investment by both groups apart from their match day or tournament commitments. The days of just selecting 23 players from all over, and counting on individual brilliance is over.

Changing coaches, and just assembling players is NOT going to do it for the WC 2026 qualifiers. The temporary highs from AFCON participation (and potential tournament victory) will not cut it at the global stage.
The NFF outsourced development to foreign leagues. They have indicated a preference for foreign coaches. They have attempted integration of dual citizen Nigerians into the set up.

Well, they can't outsource the downstream effects of these decisions. It is time to own them. Cobbled football is evidently NOT working out.

The NFF has no control of which players would be in form when invited. What is under their control is to be much more proactive in managing/developing a pool of 60+ players. Managing as in providing development insights to compensate for exposure to uneven practices.

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