December 13, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) rose from a virtual meeting held at the instance of providing a managerial direction for the senior men’s national football team and promptly terminated the contract of Gernot Rohr, the Technical Adviser of Super Eagles.
In an official statement announcing the termination of Rohr’s contract on Sunday after the meeting, the national football governing body also stated: “The Nigeria Football Federation has appointed Mr Augustine Eguavoen, currently its Technical Director, as the Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles on an interim basis.
“This is with immediate effect, and follows the termination of the relationship with Franco-German Gernot Rohr, who has been in charge of the three-time African champions for the past 64 months and is Nigeria’s longest-serving manager.”
The NFF also made some changes to the designation of the backroom staff with whom Eguavoen will marshall the affairs of the Super Eagles. Most notably significant was the reference to previous Assistant Coach Salisu Yusuf as “Chief Coach”, while Eguavoen was accorded the support of Nigerian football icons such as Austin Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo, who were named as “ambassadors”.
“Following a virtual meeting of the NFF Executive Committee on Sunday, it was decided that Eguavoen will work with Salisu Yusuf (Chief Coach); Paul Aigbogun (Assistant Coach); Joseph Yobo (Assistant Coach); Dr Terry Eguaoje (Assistant Coach), and Aloysius Agu (Goalkeeper Trainer).
“Former Nigeria captains Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, and Garba Lawal have been appointed to provide technical and ambassadorial support for the crew.”
THEWILL recalls that Rohr, who had been Super Eagles coach since August 2016, had a contract with Nigeria until December 2022. The 68-year-old led Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup and guided the team to a third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
In partial fulfilment of the terms of his contract extension, Rohr had also qualified the Super Eagles for next year’s continental football showpiece in Cameroon and was on course to do the same for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Qatar in November next year.
However, as THEWILL reported, Rohr’s handling of the national team betrayed a manager seemingly without the tactical nous to exploit the talents at his disposal and the squad depth he could call upon to deliver with some recognisable consistency. As such, he was constantly under fire for poor displays against lowly-rated opponents, even if some fixtures ended in wins for the Nigerian side.
The Sunday appointment of Eguavoen, the former Super Eagles defender and Technical Director of the NFF, as coach on an interim basis answers the question as to when Rohr will be fired. The 56-year-old enters his second stint in charge of the team as he was coach when Nigeria finished third at the 2006 AFCON in Egypt. Also, Eguavoen was team captain when the Super Eagles lifted the Cup of Nations for the first time on away ground, in Tunisia 27 years ago.
He will take charge of preparations for the delayed 2021 tournament in Cameroon between January 9 and February 6, pending the appointment of a permanent coach.
Yet, other questions linger, the most significant of which is what criteria will be applied in the search for a substantive replacement so that the country’s football aspirations are met and possibly exceeded.
A critical analysis of the needs of the country’s football juxtaposed by the objectives and timeframes within which these objectives are expected to be reached ought to inform the manner of coaching candidates that the NFF will be seeking to take over on a permanent basis. This will take into cognisance the background and experience, the philosophy and capability of anyone intending to replace Rohr to drastically eliminate any similar issues like it happened with Rohr.
Yet, the hope for a new dawn in the administration of the country’s football at the senior level appears to be dimmed by the actions of the NFF in the very act of replacing Rohr. This is because, in a bewildering but disappointing move, the statement sacking Rohr and appointing Eguavoen also promoted Yusuf from Assistant Coach to Chief Coach as aforementioned.
As this comes just seven weeks after the convicted bribe-taker was returned to the management staff of the Super Eagles, it is disturbing to say the least. THEWILL recalls that the 59-year-old was previously banned from the coaching profession for being caught on camera accepting cash from a squad of investigative journalists, who posed as football agents, to select two players for his Morocco 2018 AFCON team in August of that year.
Upon conviction after the NFF’s Ethics and Fair Play Committee ruled that the coach received $1,000 from the men, Yusuf was banned for one year and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 by the Federation. Only for authorities within the very same body to throw the benefit of hindsight to the mud and reinstate Yusuf into the Super Eagles’ coaching crew this year and announce him Chief Coach under the interim leadership of Eguavoen.
It does not bode well for the direction the team ought to be heading and it remains a stark reminder that the more things change, the more they appear to remain the same.
Yet, hope remains that in Eguavoen, and anyone who takes over on a substantive basis, some changes will combine to move the needle forward towards the realisation of the country’s football objectives.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
