NFF look to engage the services of Bayern Munich's Pep Guadiola to assist Oliseh

NIGERIAN Football Federation (NFF) officials are looking to engage the services of Bayern Munich coach Pep Guadiola to assist Super Eagles boos Sunday Oliseh as he prepares the team for the 2017 African Cup of Nations and 2018 World Cup.

 

Earlier this week, NFF president Amaju Pinnick said the federation is looking to engage the services of several heavyweight coaches over the world to assist with the technical preparation of the team. This was misconstrued in some quarters to believe that the NFF was searching for a replacement for Oliseh but Mr Pinnick pointed out that what they were looking for was someone to work alongside him.

 

Mr Pinnick added: "I’ve received calls by many people wanting to know if we are hiring a coach to take over the job of Sunday Oliseh. That is absolutely out of it and perhaps, I was misquoted or misunderstood but what I meant was we are looking at a coach to solve the problem of not scoring goals by the team.

 

This could be in a way of internship with big teams like Bayern Munich and remember that Sunday Oliseh is the Pep Guadiola of Nigeria and it will be interesting for him to interface with Guadiola. ‘We have no regrets employing Oliseh and he has delivered 100%, so we at the NFF will give him everything he needs to succeed."

 

Nigeria's Super Eagles have scored four goals in five competitive matches under Oliseh and the coach has remained unbeaten. However, the NFF wants the team to work more on scoring and Oliseh may be asked to go and do an internship at Bayern Munich or Mr Guadiola may be asked to come and work with the Eagles to solve the problem.

 

Mr Pinnick added: "Remember that Nigerians want results and it is in this line that we want to see that Oliseh has everything at his disposal to bring joy to millions of Nigerians. We’re not hiring a foreign or new coach or heavyweight coach as we’re happy and satisfied with Oliseh."

 

Meanwhile, U17 World Cup coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has been given more responsibilities by the NFF, who have appointed him as assistant coach of the U-20 national team. Amuneke, who led the Golden Eaglets to win the World Cup in Chile, will now assist U20 coach Manu Garba, while still retaining his position as the chief coach of the Golden Eaglets.

 

Mr Amaju said coaches Garba and Amuneke, who both coached the U17 team in 2013, have a relationship that would be beneficial to Nigerian football. He pointed out that the NFF wants to pay more attention to the youth teams because they are the future of Nigeria's senior national team.