OFFICIAL & BREAKING: NFF Finally Announces Finidi as Eagles Manager......

[Ugbowo]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

Those friendlies have zero bearing on competitive games. Even Paseiro was horrible when it comes to friendlies. Also people forget that Simon had a bad injury during that meaningless match. Why are people getting worked up over friendlies . I prefer the SE gets exposed in friendlies, instead of winning them to cover cracks. He went into both friendlies without 9 players from the Afcon squad. I will take my chances with someone who has been part of the coaching staff compared to someone new 5 weeks from the WCQs.

Where you the same person to tell us not to let paseroro go before the Afcon and we all know how that turned out with the SE suprising the entire nation etc

BP,

You are 100% correct friendlies are exactly what they are....friendlies. But you play those games to show you one or two things. For me it was the first opportunity to gauge Finidi as a coach. I watched Enyimba during the Super 8 but I did not want to judge him off that. They were not good at all.

Again, I do not care about the results of the friendlies. If you read my comments after the Ghana game, I was equally critical. The Mali game was not a good example in the way he thinks about games and how he adopts to problems he faced. His squad management was equally concerning. The post game interview was frankly, a joke.

The Super Eagles job is a huge task. It's not for the faint hearted. The job can consume you. I hope Finidi is up to the task and he surrounds himself with the right people to help him through this. His success is our success.

I don't know what you're saying about Peseiro. I am not following.

[Dammy]

Tournament football is different from Qualifiers. it should be all hands on deck. Hope for divine intervention. We should never forget that it was Peseiro that drew against Lesotho at home and drew away against Zimbabwe. WOWO Nigerians have selective amnesia. I dont, and I will remind you every day, every minute, every chance I get.

Stop this nonsense! You are already making excuses for Finidi! If he cannot get us the World Cup ticket, he shouldn’t take up the job! We are starting from a position of weakness but we have the squad to turn things around.
Amos Shuaibu took over from Bonfrere Jo in the middle of the WCQs and got the job done, so stop making excuses!

[aruako1]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

Those friendlies have zero bearing on competitive games. Even Paseiro was horrible when it comes to friendlies. Also people forget that Simon had a bad injury during that meaningless match. Why are people getting worked up over friendlies . I prefer the SE gets exposed in friendlies, instead of winning them to cover cracks. He went into both friendlies without 9 players from the Afcon squad. I will take my chances with someone who has been part of the coaching staff compared to someone new 5 weeks from the WCQs.

Where you the same person to tell us not to let paseroro go before the Afcon and we all know how that turned out with the SE suprising the entire nation etc

BP,

You are 100% correct friendlies are exactly what they are....friendlies. But you play those games to show you one or two things. For me it was the first opportunity to gauge Finidi as a coach. I watched Enyimba during the Super 8 but I did not want to judge him off that. They were not good at all.

Again, I do not care about the results of the friendlies. If you read my comments after the Ghana game, I was equally critical. The Mali game was not a good example in the way he thinks about games and how he adopts to problems he faced. His squad management was equally concerning. The post game interview was frankly, a joke.

The Super Eagles job is a huge task. It's not for the faint hearted. The job can consume you. I hope Finidi is up to the task and he surrounds himself with the right people to help him through this. His success is our success.

I don't know what you're saying about Peseiro. I am not following.

I echo your sentiments. I follow Enyimba's games and I have watched a few...I'm not convinced. But I hope he clears my doubts

[chief nfachairman]

BEst of the lot.

I support him. I think he has a good footballing brain. Hes learnt from the best acrros the world and very good football education.

He did it with Eyimba as a coach, and was a good assisant.

Lets see

[Bigpokey24]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

Those friendlies have zero bearing on competitive games. Even Paseiro was horrible when it comes to friendlies. Also people forget that Simon had a bad injury during that meaningless match. Why are people getting worked up over friendlies . I prefer the SE gets exposed in friendlies, instead of winning them to cover cracks. He went into both friendlies without 9 players from the Afcon squad. I will take my chances with someone who has been part of the coaching staff compared to someone new 5 weeks from the WCQs.

Where you the same person to tell us not to let paseroro go before the Afcon and we all know how that turned out with the SE suprising the entire nation etc

BP,

You are 100% correct friendlies are exactly what they are....friendlies. But you play those games to show you one or two things. For me it was the first opportunity to gauge Finidi as a coach. I watched Enyimba during the Super 8 but I did not want to judge him off that. They were not good at all.

Again, I do not care about the results of the friendlies. If you read my comments after the Ghana game, I was equally critical. The Mali game was not a good example in the way he thinks about games and how he adopts to problems he faced. His squad management was equally concerning. The post game interview was frankly, a joke.

The Super Eagles job is a huge task. It's not for the faint hearted. The job can consume you. I hope Finidi is up to the task and he surrounds himself with the right people to help him through this. His success is our success.

I don't know what you're saying about Peseiro. I am not following.

Yes the games at Enyimba get as e be, and the Mali game was rubbish ,and i wasnt impressed( we just couldn't bite and for me, the issue was desser and kele, plus that Awaziem)but I don't judge teams by friendlies. For me if he fails to defeat SA and Benin he should be fired. I have zero sentiments for coaches etc. They come and go. Let's see his game plan vs Mamalodi Sundowns and ***** in six to seven weeks time. He has zero excuses

[Bigpokey24]

Like I posited, he was in cahoots with the NFF all along. That's why he had the temerity to start questionable folks and refused to adequately make substitutions during the friendlies.

Goodluck. Hopefully he changes his ways and learn to have some integrity.

Congrats to my brother Finidi. He has my support. Good to see a local coach coach the team

Keep your support, you are a jinx

[iworo]

Let me spell it out one last time.

A friendly you would test up and comming talents to integrate them into your team.

Any coach that does not give Nathan Tella or Fisayo Bashiru a single minute of play over 2 matches, does not wish SE well. It means he has a complete disregard for team building, a complete lack of integrity, and alterior motives.

You DO NOT completely waste 2 friendly matches. National team assignments are few and far between. YOU DO NOT WASTE THEM WITH SUCH RUBBISH.

He had no clear plan. He was beefing with players, including our AFCON MVP in Lookman.

He wasn't playing his best team.

He also wasn't testing genuine prospects.

He neglected to do either of the above, so what he did was just useless and a complete waste of time.

Valid sentiments.

There are other factors one must consider.

Finidi's reaction to being being named the coach for the friendlies last minute, and thus no input into selecting players he truly would have loved to utilize in a friendly. He has seen most of the current players from his 20 mths with Peserio except 1 or 2.

The NFF's magical ability to replace Finidi after the next two matches should unsatisfactory results occur. Unsatisfactory as nothing less than outright victories in the next 2 matches given his tenure with the team. That familiarity of players, their strengths and weaknesses edged things in his favor.

A bunch of jokers.

You think you can build a team in a short time. America has had their coach in place for over 5 years. You mumu thinks you can build a good team in a month.

What you should be talking about is providing Finidi support and then hoping for divine intervention.

Finidi doesn't need to "build a team". We already have a decent team in place that just needs a few tweaks here and there. The Ivorian Coach did not need time to build the team that he led to win AFCON. We are not expecting Finidi to start winning all matches or even qualify for the World Cup. That would be a bonus. But we should expect to see some improvements in areas we are weak especially team formation and our attack. It would be a shame if Finidi can't do better than the poor coach Peseiro. Let's see how he gets on over the next 2 WC qualifiers.

Dude…Wow! I must admit, I'm shocked by the sentiment expressed in the highlighted comment. It sheds light on your priorities and reveals a strong preference for your chosen candidate to secure the position of Nigeria's soccer team coach at all cost, even if it means foregoing participation in the World Cup for eight years!!

[iworo]

Finidi will be judged on the games vs SA and Benin

Yes, he will be judged on these upcoming games moving forward. However, has anyone outlined the specific criteria that led to his selection over the other candidates? There must have been certain standards or qualifications considered before his hiring, correct?

[Orion]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

Congrats to Finidi!

But I'm indeed skeptical. I only hope our better talent pool will win the day and enable us to top our group in the WCQers. What NFF needs to do now is absolutely throw everything behind supporting the guy.

[Orion]

Anyway, on a positive note. Finidi was 100% a better decision than bringing Peseiro back.

[Kabalega]

Congrats and wish Finidi well for the sake of all other African managers.

[Tobi17]

Who's his assistant?

[vancity eagle]

Anyway, on a positive note. Finidi was 100% a better decision than bringing Peseiro back.

Why ?

I dont see any positive, other than sentiments and saving money.

[oscar52]

Congrats to Finidi! Local coaches deserves a chance.

[Cellular]

So that's what you got out of the statement? Couldn't it mean what he does when he has Osimhen, Boniface, Simon, Ekong, Aina, Moffi, Musa , and Chukwueze available?

Who are his assistants?

Congratulations to Coach Finidi.

Good question.

Congratulations all the same to Finidi George, the new Eagles Manager.

Looking forward to see what he does with a full complement of his players.

So you expect him to bring in his own players and discard some of the established players?

That is what I meant o.
I don't know where Lolly pulled his own understanding of what I wrote.

Again, I will like to see what he does when he has the full complement of Super Eagle players. <Lolly, is this clear enough for you?>

[danfo driver]

BEst of the lot.

I support him. I think he has a good footballing brain. Hes learnt from the best acrros the world and very good football education.

He did it with Eyimba as a coach, and was a good assisant.

Lets see

please list them.

[danfo driver]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

funny enough, I see this as a negative. he was with the team during one of the worst period of our football, when we were losing, drawing and being humiliated by crap teams.

I always wanted him to be Eagles coach, i campaigned for him for years. But his time as assistant coach is a blight on his CV, for me. Watching us get humiliated for more than a year was a bitter pill to swallow. And then at the AFCON, we were not imaginative and only played great in 3 games. The other 4 games were poor.

[danfo driver]

Who's his assistant?

i expect Amunike to launch his campaign

[oscar52]

Happy they rid themselves of coaches that show up two weeks before a match and leave two days after the match while collecting monthly salaries and everyone wandering why he doesn't know his players abilities 12 months into a coaching tenure. Finidi will live in Nigeria and that's a win..

[Orion]

Anyway, on a positive note. Finidi was 100% a better decision than bringing Peseiro back.

Why ?

I dont see any positive, other than sentiments and saving money.

Once a coach has moved on, they've emotionally moved on from the job. It's never a good idea to go back in such situations. Always best to move forward. I would have preferred a more experienced coach, but Finidi is better than coaxing Peseiro to return.

[kawawa]

Positives

Has been with the team for almost 2 years. Should be familiar with the players by now.
May help quell some of the unnecessary clamor for home based players. He should know the league by now Right?
Should command respect from the lads with his pedigree as a player and what he has accomplished so far as a coach.

Negatives

Seemed like an also ran his entire time with the SE. Hard to see any impact he made on the group from afar.

Yes don't draw conclusions from "friendlies" but that was a chance to maybe show his hand a bit and he left A LOT to be desired. I have voiced my concerns here from the Ghana game to the disaster second game against Mali. Forget the results. There were A LOT of things about the performance, in game adaptation, squad management AND his post game summary that made me very uncomfortable. He did not seem equipped for what will be an enormous task ahead.

I am very skeptical.

I will be on my knees praying for guidance for him and his team of assistant coaches (this will be very crucial). I hope they succeed and bring unparalleled success to the SE.

Those friendlies have zero bearing on competitive games. Even Paseiro was horrible when it comes to friendlies. Also people forget that Simon had a bad injury during that meaningless match. Why are people getting worked up over friendlies . I prefer the SE gets exposed in friendlies, instead of winning them to cover cracks. He went into both friendlies without 9 players from the Afcon squad. I will take my chances with someone who has been part of the coaching staff compared to someone new 5 weeks from the WCQs.

Where you the same person to tell us not to let paseroro go before the Afcon and we all know how that turned out with the SE suprising the entire nation etc

BP,

You are 100% correct friendlies are exactly what they are....friendlies. But you play those games to show you one or two things. For me it was the first opportunity to gauge Finidi as a coach. I watched Enyimba during the Super 8 but I did not want to judge him off that. They were not good at all.

Again, I do not care about the results of the friendlies. If you read my comments after the Ghana game, I was equally critical. The Mali game was not a good example in the way he thinks about games and how he adopts to problems he faced. His squad management was equally concerning. The post game interview was frankly, a joke.

The Super Eagles job is a huge task. It's not for the faint hearted. The job can consume you. I hope Finidi is up to the task and he surrounds himself with the right people to help him through this. His success is our success.

I don't know what you're saying about Peseiro. I am not following.

Yes the games at Enyimba get as e be, and the Mali game was rubbish ,and i wasnt impressed( we just couldn't bite and for me, the issue was desser and kele, plus that Awaziem)but I don't judge teams by friendlies. For me if he fails to defeat SA and Benin he should be fired. I have zero sentiments for coaches etc. They come and go. Let's see his game plan vs Mamalodi Sundowns and ***** in six to seven weeks time. He has zero excuses

Agree. He has to qualify for the WC. There are 8 games to go and 2 points behind. No excuses.

[vancity eagle]

Anyway, on a positive note. Finidi was 100% a better decision than bringing Peseiro back.

Why ?

I dont see any positive, other than sentiments and saving money.

Once a coach has moved on, they've emotionally moved on from the job. It's never a good idea to go back in such situations. Always best to move forward. I would have preferred a more experienced coach, but Finidi is better than coaxing Peseiro to return.

Fair enough.

[ahidjo2]

NFF appoints Finidi George as Head Coach of Super Eagles
https://thenff.com/nff-appoints-finidi- ... er-eagles/


NFF Media
April 29, 2024
The Board of Nigeria Football Federation on Monday approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint former ace winger Finidi George as Head Coach of the Senior Men National Football Team, Super Eagles.

George, who spent 20 months as assistant to José Santos Peseiro before the Portuguese voluntarily left the post following the accomplishment of Africa Cup of Nations runner-up position at Cote d’Ivoire 2023, took charge of the squad in interim capacity during two friendly matches in Morocco last month.

His squad edged Ghana 2-1 in the first match, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but then lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.

George, a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in USA the same year, won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Real Betis (Spain) forward, who made a scoring debut for fatherland in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso at the National Stadium, Lagos on 27th July 1991, also featured for Calabar Rovers and Sharks FC in the domestic scene before heading to Europe. He assisted Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory) to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994.

George had actually scored the goal that took Nigeria to that FIFA World Cup debut, when he put Nigeria ahead against hosts Algeria in a crucial qualifier in Algiers on 8th October 1993. The match eventually ended 1-1 and earned Nigeria a ticket to the finals in America.

George’s immediate task will be to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks. The matches are must-win encounters, with the Super Eagles lagging behind in third place in Group C of the African campaign behind Rwanda and South Africa.

Oh well. Finidi George does not inspire any confidence as a coach. Not sure I know of anything that stands him out as a brilliant coach that made his appointment appropriate. Does anybody know? Nigeria can/could not afford $50k a month for a coach of repute but a certain former governor was busy dashing a school $850k for present and yet-to-be-born kids. Nigerian useless senators were busy spending tens of billions to purchase un-needed cars but whenever it concerns things that matter to Nigerians, everybody claims there is no money and everybody keeps quiet. Siddon dey look mode activated!