Former Nigerian international, Samson Siasia, has called on Austin Eguavoen, the Super Eagles technical adviser and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director, to relinquish one of his roles to enable him to focus on a single responsibility.
Siasia made the statement during a novelty football match held in Abuja to honor the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko.
The former Super Eagles coach also expressed strong opposition to the proposal of hiring a foreign technical adviser for the national team.
He asserted that Nigeria has a wealth of competent coaches capable of managing the team effectively.
“We don’t want any foreign coach here because they are not coming to do anything. We have enough good materials at home that we should not be talking about hiring a foreign coach,” Siasia said.
“As for Austin Eguavoen’s future with the Super Eagles, I will suggest that we wait a while to see how the team will be. It is a very young team. Eguaveon has a job already as the technical director. He should resign as Super Eagles manager and concentrate on his job. He cannot hold two positions at the same time. He should actually decide on which one to hold and leave the other,” he argued.
Addressing the Super Eagles’ recent loss to Rwanda, Siasia voiced disappointment over the performance, noting that the defeat at home tarnishes Nigeria’s reputation as a football powerhouse.
“Losing at home is not a good thing. It was like they did not play to win. But it is understandable why they did not play as we expected—that was because they have already qualified for the AFCON tournament,” he said. “However, they ought not to have forgotten that anytime the Super Eagles play and lose, it counts against the country. It has gone into history that the Super Eagles lost against Rwanda at home.”
