Former Nigerian international Etim Esin has advised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to stick with Augustine Eguavoen as head coach of the Super Eagles and forget about hiring a foreign coach.
Esin made this known on the backdrop of his impressive outing with the senior national team at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, where the team defeated Benin 3-0 before playing out a 1-1 draw against Rwanda.
In a chat with Completesports.com, Esin stated that Eguavoen should be allowed to remain with the Super Eagles and continue with the good work he has started.
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“I will always support our indigenous coach over the foreign coach, and you should understand that Eguavoen is my teammate in Eagles back then, so I will always support him.”
“Keshi, may his soul rest in peace, won the Nations Cup with the Super Eagles and took Nigeria to the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup.
“The most important thing is for us to give Eguavoen another chances because if we don’t fail in life, we don’t succeed. This is another opportunity for him to learn from his past mistakes and put things right. Based on the results of the AFCON qualifiers so far, from six points, he has given us four points.
“The truth is, I always advocated for my indigenous coaches, and Eguavoen is not a small man in the game. Besides, there is nothing bad if the NFF decide to send him to countries like England or Holland to upgrade his coaching knowledge. We have to support our own because that’s how we can move forward.”
10 Comments
Because he beat Benin Republic and drew with Rwanda, he has passed the Exam.
It is well
It’s ok they play
Talking about a foreign coach now is a total waste of time and resources. That’s all.
Well, has Eguavoen learnt the trick behind “effective adjustment”? If so, yes let him continue please.
Eguavoen has a winning strategy, no doubt. But it is Lack of adjustment that has been his undoing because, once his his methods are decoded, he fails to adjust in time to the threat that now faces him.
Already, we all know what Eguavoen is currently about: the same formation 3-4-3 as Peseiro but with a different orientation.
Peseiro played low block defensive orientation with greater positional discipline, less emphasis on possession play and an attacking approach predicated largely on counter attacks.
Hence Nigeria registered 45% possession stats against Angola in the Afcon but 51% against Burundi recently.
To date, many Super Eagles fans remain unhappy and ungrateful with Jose Peseiro despite winning a highly respectable silver for Nigeria at the 2023 Afcon because his ultra-defensive style deprived these fans less time to see Super Eagles players on the ball due to how long they sat back to defend, even against lower opponents like Angola and Guinea Bissau.
Now, for Eguavoen in the last 2 games, the Super Eagles fans enjoyed more time the players romanced the ball, with 57% possession against Benin and, as already mentioned, 51% against Burundi.
In Eguavoen’s 3-4-3, the Super Eagles were more daring and aggressive with higher block. It was a more balanced orientation, slightly tilting more towards an attacking approach. Left wingback Bruno Onyemaechi overlapped more regularly and pulled out more crosses under Eguavoen than Zaidu did under Peseiro in the same formation.
In Eguavoen’s midfield, it resembled his 4-2-4 where Aribo was clearly in front of Ndidi, this time, Dele-Bashiru took the place of Aribo. This arrangement worried me greatly as I noticed Eguavoen’s 3-4-3 becoming 5-1-1-3. In this arrangement, a Rwandan centre forward simply played a pass back to an unmarked midfield who dragged his shot wide. Under Peseiro, the 2 centre midfielders, Iwobi and Onyeka, tend to be side-by-side for long spells in games with both having a more defensive portfolio whilst Dele-Bashiru is clearly the more attacking midfielder for Eguavoen.
Because of Eguavoen’s more offensive orientation, his Super Eagles could be punished brutally when players are over-committed to attack. With the wingbacks pushed higher and one of the 2 midfielders in attacking position, the Super Eagles become very vulnerable to rapid counter attacks executed by highly technical players with killer instincts.
I always love seeing Nigeria on the front foot against African oppositions. But this has to yield victories CONSISTENTLY to be worthwhile.
Don’t worry yourself the new SE coach, Egu means business and knows what’s he’s doing. 4points in 2 games, and in btw trashing as expatriate coach 3nill is no mince meat. Mostly that the same Rohr’s team, defeated SE few months beck.
The AFCON held in Cameroon is still Fresh in mind. He won all the group stage matches ,but was defeated by a Tunisian team that does not have full squad,even their Chief coach was not on the bench for that encounter. He actually gave Gernort Rohr a sucker punch,GR didn’t expect Eguavoen to set up the formation in that manner.Had he played his table soccer formation with Benin,GR would have gone back to Benin with at least a draw. Going forward,since he is in charge for now, Eguavoen should be “positively” unpredictable when setting up his formation.
On this, Etim is /
I have no comment since you people are not only gullible but brainwashed sick football lovers. NFF las las got you people with this Eguavoen agenda. Hands off Goodluck to una!!!
I just think the nff should just stick with eguaveon for now as employing any foreign coach now is a waste of public funds
Excellent analysis by Deo for the two coaches Pesiero and Eguavoen on their tactical approaches; he made good comparison between them on how to manage the games; I think Eguavoen approach and style of playing is an excellent one for Super Eagles , cause this a classic SE pattern of play with bit adjustment of formation from 4-2-2 or 4-3-3 to a balanced one 3-4-3 which no doubt cleared that it was a suitable and good formation for SE ; but there is a bit hole on Eguavoen wall needs to cover , it is that he should not put two attacking midfielders , he must put two defensive midfielders just like to put Ndidi and Onyeka than to put Fasiayo and Ndidi , cause Ndidi can play on defensive and attacking position…