Former Super Falcons coach Ismaila Mabo has disagreed with the Nigeria Football Federation’s choice of Portuguese Jose Peseiro as the Super Eagles head coach, adding that a Nigerian, Ndubuisi Egbo, would have been the right man for the job instead, The PUNCH reports.
The NFF on Sunday announced the appointment of the former Sporting Lisbon manager as the new coach of the men’s national team, with immediate effect.
The engagement of the Portuguese has not gone down well with some stakeholders, with 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner, Edema Fuludu, and former England player of Nigerian descent, John Fashanu, the first to question the credentials of the 62-year-old coach.
Regarded as the most successful Nigerian coach in women’s football, the 77-year-old Mabo, who guided the Falcons to the quarter-finals of the 1999 Women’s World Cup and 2004 Olympics Games, said he would have preferred the appointment of former Albania KF Tirana coach Egbo over Peseiro.
“I’ve never been a supporter of bringing foreign coaches to handle our national teams,” Mabo told The PUNCH.
“I don’t like a situation whereby the federation will bring a coach and tell them who to play, as we saw at the last tournament in Cameroon, where we got knocked out in the Round of 16 despite our impressive performance in the group stage.
“I support the hiring of the indigenous coach but not those they will have so much control over. Even if they want to bring a coach from abroad, they can bring our local coaches who are doing very well abroad. For instance, someone like Ndubuisi Egbo would have been a very good choice to handle the national team.
“This is someone who has been in Europe for a while and he has the experience and has also played for Nigeria before.
“Peseiro doesn’t have any idea of how things are done here or our culture and it is just like bringing back Gernot Rohr but in another form.”
Egbo became the first African coach to win a topflight league in Europe and play in the UEFA Champions League, after guiding Tirana to their first league title in a decade back in July 2020.
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