2026 WCQ: Finidi Needs More Experienced Coaches To Work With Him –James Peters

Until he stays for long and Nigeria doesn’t enter world cup last last, una eyes go clear by then. Mtcheeew

See the way these people are romancing failure.

I heard the next match is March next year. A lot can still be done to get the desired result.

There is urgent need to overhaul the whole team and get a qualified foreign coach.

NFF sabotaged us and the biggest conspirators are mute.

I watched most the training session and never saw a single tactical session with Finidi. Everywhere and everybody was so relaxed like they were only going to play against street teams.

Who will drag Gusau out of that office? Is the government so afraid of FIFA? Jonathan attempted it back then after a similar fiasco before Pinnick begged and agreed to hire Rohr.

Let’s do it. EFCC should move in. FIFA should do it’s worst. Everything is scattered now. What’s the use?

If Gusau and his comedic board will not resign peacefully, let government do it forcefully. Rather than letting Gusau always insult us with a dismissive silence after blunder after blunders.

We learnt some very valuable lessons in the two games that Finidi oversaw as Super Eagles head coach in these 2 world cup qualifiers. These include:

– The Super Eagles have players who can rise from setback (vs South Africa).
– The Super Eagles have players who draw first blood (vs Benin).
– The Super Eagles midfield can indeed be creative (in the two games).
– The Super Eagles can knuckle down and put pressure on opponents (in the two games).
– The Super Eagles can take the fight to the opposition (in the two games).

The variables above are positives that are inescapable. So, it is now up to the sports ministry, NFF and the federal government to build on these positives to help Nigeria come second in the group and qualify for the inter-continental playoffs to give us a fighting chance of qualifying for the world cup.

Winning the group is possible but seems very improbable; but coming second is very possible indeed. If these 3 powerful stakeholders are serious, if they have the interest of soccer-loving Nigerians at heart, they will butt heads together to fashion out a credible world cup qualification recovery strategy to navigate Nigeria’s ambitions back on track.

At the heart of this strategy will be the immediate disbanding of the current Finidi George-led management team. And then, specific job requirements to be drawn up with roles and responsibilities of a coach that is vastly experienced in successfully recovering a lost course in football competitions.

There are very many such coaches out there; coaches that have snatched league status survival from the deadly jaws of relegation. Very many of such coaches will be queuing up to have a crack at rescuing Nigeria’s flailing world cup qualification ambitions.

And we have players fired up to drag Nigeria out of the mud.

A panel made up of foreign recruitment specialists should be tasked with identifying, shortlisting and recommending the successful candidate to the NFF. Between the NFF, sports ministry and the federal government, they should spare no expense to bring the successful candidate on board. This is very doable between these 3 stakeholders.

I want to thank Finidi for his efforts; he did his best but he needed to hit the ground running. Just 1 win in 4 games (2 friendlies and 2 competitive games) is not good enough. Yes, he (Finidi) faced structural problems, but on the pitch, his tactical and technical injections, along with team selections and player arrangements were gravely inadequate ingredients for success required as Super Eagles coach.

Finidi now has to go (I say that without grudge to him).

Federal government, sports ministry and the NFF, come together to engage an older vastly experienced coach like Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis who has track record of rescuing valuables from a sinking ship.

Retaining Finidi shows me that the NFF, sports ministry and the federal government are not as emotionally engaged and invested in the Super Eagles’ world cup ambitions like majority of the fans are. Believe me, it we fans can set up a Go-Fund-Me page on social media to raise the funds to employ a competent coach, we will do it.

But why should it come to that? Is Nigeria that insolvent?

I am down on my knees for these 3 powerful stakeholder to do the needful; the Super Eagles brand cannot be left to fade into oblivion!

Save us from international embarrassment!

Thanks you Joe. Nigeria don’t want to do the right thing that man city coach I support, please sack finidi,

But the government are the ones who led us into this mess

If Finidi has lost your support then we might as well write his obituary.
I will praise him for adding strength to the Nigerian midfield something that Peseiro failed to do. He selected dele-Bashiru and gave Onyedika and Yusuf more exposure, all three showed that they deserved starting slots. Recall that Peseiro kept them near permanently on the bench. I will also thank him for Sodiq who showed himself as a ball-crossing left fullback, something Nigeria is solely missing.

I won’t thank him for the wiry Tanimu who, despite his commendable performance, at 21 is not experienced enough to be exposed at the full international level. I felt he did not, unlike Sodiq, have the skills of a fullback and is not imposing in height or physique to be taken seriously as a centre-back in the physical African game.

Finidi was tactically bereft, and it showed! He was unable to drill the team in either set-plays or set-pieces that are now the staple of international competitive matches. South Africa scored from set-play and Benin as revealed by the scorer also scored their first goal from set-play. Benin’s set-piece 2nd goal also revealed another area of Finidi’s deficiency; lack of set-piece tactics for freekicks or corners.

Findi misused Ademola Lookman or didn’t unlike Peseiro understand how the forward plays. Ademola Lookman is a speedster, his great strength lies in leading counter-attacks, break-outs or fast transitions with his speed. He is not one for the slow build-up play that was orchestrated by Iwobi presumably guided by Finidi.
Peseiro stated before AFCON that he was going to model his team around Lookman, translating he meant he was going to make the team play to Lookman’s strength i.e. counterattacking football.

Finidi did not also understand Chukwueze. I would admit he was a mystery to me as well until recently. Chukwueze requires close support from either a partner in the midfield or from the fullback. Without such support, Chukwueze becomes isolated and lost. When he was closely supported by Yusuf, Chukwueze almost scored and when he was supported by Onyedika he played the assist that led to the first goal.

Finidi was fascinated with Onuachu, a player who always disappoints because he never gives you what his physical appearance suggests. I am not one to criticise the defensive partnership, because such partnerships are built on experience. Finidi’s squad selection doomed him to defensive failure. He refused to incorporate defensive experience that Balogun or Ekong could have provided. Many commentators were screaming themselves hoarse that he call one of them up, and yet they were unheard or ignored by him.

Finidi is arrogant in this respect. He did not know or recognise his coaching limitations vis a vis his tactical opponents. Listening to the football community can help a coach obtain clarity and even new insight into player selection and tactics. After all, Peseiro listened to the fans in discovering Nwabali as a replacement to your friend. Yes, not all fans make intelligent suggestions but the body of fans can help a coach discover new talent and new possibilities. As a novice international coach, Finidi showed unforgivable arrogance.

I also question whether Finidi studied or deployed his staff to study either the South African or the Beninoise team. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have underestimated the latter and would have closed shop (i.e. park-the-bus) at 1-0 to rely on counter-attacks using Lookman. The team Rohr assembled for Benin was based on the same team selection method he used while in Nigeria. Rohr searched all over Europe for Beninoise football talent and assembled Division 1 and 2 players from France and Switzerland mixed with a couple of hungry under-21 talent. He then, unlike Finidi, drilled them with set-plays and set-piece strategies. This my friend was not a team to underestimate with the usual Nigerian arrogance. They will trouble any team in Africa.

Finidi’s substitutions were often the product of panic rather than pre-set tactical analysis. It seems that in setting out his approach to games he never countenances that his team would be losing and pre-bake his tactical reaction to that eventuality. In short, Finidi came only with plan A. No plan B, C, or D.