Kelechi Iheanacho has backed Finidi George to succeed Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles’ substantive head coach.
Finidi has been placed in temporary charge of the Super Eagles for the friendlies against the Black Stars of Ghana and Eagles of Mali.
The 53-year-old masterminded Nigeria’s first win over Ghana in 18 years at the Grand Stade de Marrakech on Friday.
Following the 2-1 victory against their perennial rivals, Iheanacho believes Finidi is the right man to tinker the Super Eagles.
“The coach (Finidi) has done a great job, it’s short time for him to work with us. It’s just only him at the moment.
Hopefully he will get more chance with the team,” Iheanacho said after the game against Ghana.
The gaffer will hope to lead the Super Eagles to another victory against Mali next week Tuesday.
Finidi, who is currently in charge of Nigeria Premier Football League champions Enyimba, is among the coaches, who have applied to lead the Super Eagles.
16 Comments
I agree completely. NFF should give Finidi a permanent contract, the man sabi ball abeg. For the first time in years, Super Eagles played like the real Super Eagles of old. Look at that second goal, the biuld-up was lovely. If you Osimhen and Boniface to Finidi-Ball, na fire-for-fire be that o.
Also, for the first time in many games, Nacho played his original U-17 days position – #8.
May be NFF should’ve sacked Peseiro before that final vs CIV!
I agree with you @John-1. Finidi George should be given the job. He knows his football and also know the SE boys very well having been in the technical team alongside Peseiro over the last 2 years. Their is experience and need for continuity as there is no time for a new comer to learn before the WC qualifiers resumes in June.
The manner in which Finidi immediately included Tanimu in the starting lineup was evident. He recognizes Tanimu’s skill and also possesses a clear understanding of his players’ optimal positions, demonstrated by deploying Iheanacho on the right-hand side. Finidi’s intentions are clear, and it is recommended that the NFF appoint him for the job, as he is expected to deliver positive results.
I affirm but let’s see if he does a double against Mali and the manner he does it will determine if he gets the job. Congratulations to Finidi in advance, I was one of his critics because of Enyimba’s lack of continental silverware but as we know it will be unfair to judge a coach by his Npfl team performance due to a lot of disorganisation in the system. I also want NFF to publish the names of the coaches that applied for SE let the fans have fair share of information to digress on because we want the best.
I’ll wait till after the Mali game before making a verdict. The only option I have for now is if he coaches the team to beat Mali, then maybe to allow him on interim basis to be in charge of both WorldCup qualifiers against SA and Benin republic in June. After those crucial matches in June, if he comes out with favorable results to either get back to the top of the group or get us closer to the top of the group. Surely we can talk about giving him the job permanently with a foreign assistant. I still believe the SuperEagles deserves another good foreign coach.
I’m not against Finidi’s performance but it is expected. Nigeria will always beat Ghana as the latter is out of form. It’s not a big deal. I know many will come for me but it’s true. Ghana played well too and in coming months, they will show that they have been rebuilding. I will also wait for the Mali game before making a verdict. I am impressed with the way they played on the ground as I hate long balls. Time will tell
That’s not true bro. There’s nothing like form when Ghana meet Nigeria. Even if they select a group from Ashaiman, it’ll still be a tough game for Nigeria. That’s how fierce the rivalry is. Even in Senegal ’92, everyone expected Nigeria to win but Ghana triumphed. They weren’t in form when they denied us 2022 World Cup too.
THIS IS FRIENDLY MATCH WHERE GHANA HAD A NEW COACH WHO IS EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW PLAYERS AND CANNOT BE USED IN ANY FORM TO ACCESS THE PERFPMANCE OF FINIDI.BEFORE THE AFCON,WE DIDN’T DO WELL DURING OUR FRIENDLIES AND YET WE REACH FINAL.I THINK WE ALSO NEED A WORLD CLASS COACH.
FINIDI HAS DONE WELL.
Players should focus on their performance and not on coach’s swlection. Like players, some coaches are only good for friendly matches. In a real match situations or tournaments, they get exposed.
Bonfere, Keshi, Pesseiro teams didnt do well in friendly matches but they achieved the best of their time (decade).
Top performers like Frank the tank, Gentle giant Semi, Midfield Maestro Ndidi, Locomotive lookman, and Nwabest Nwabili would always shop in games.
Technically, the Ghanaian coach seems to be ahead, his team was more cohesive and organized.
Nwabali made multiple word class saves to deny the opposing teams.
I advocated for Finidi ahead of opportunist Amuneke and other local
coaches because of his continuity and his work at Enyimba. The match against Mali will show if he has learnt something from this match.
Is he going to give opportunity to Yusuf (who did well at AFCON) Tella, Fisayo like he did with Taminu.
Is he going to improve the midfield with a forward thinking playmaker or continue with sideways.
Is he going to keep benching Omeruo, Lookman and Moses for no obvious reasons.
I will continue to support a foreign trained coach with European coaching experience to handle the team.
You must be out of your mind Nigeria will never archive anything with a forien coach only Nigerian coach can take the team to the next level becuase only them umderstands the players. I think Finidi should be given the job as coach
What did Yusuf do apart from conceding a penalty against South Africa which nearly knocked us out of AFCON??? Which players really played well at AFCON apart from Nwabali, the backline, Onyeka, Lookman and Osimhen? Chukwueze, Aribo, Moses Simon, Zaidu (the worst player at the AFCON), Paul Onuachi and Iwobi were all rubbish. I won’t include Nacho and Moffi because they rarely played. Players who couldn’t string 10 passes together? For a centerback like Troost-Ekong to win best player should tell you the rubbish football Nigeria played at AFCON.
Findi and amuneke, enyeama should together. Nff should bring in folorunsho, fisayo and eberechi eze. Big kudos to tanimu too
Interestingly, Kelechi Iheanacho is yet to lose a game against Ghana. He was in that U-17 team that smashed and humiliated Ghana 6-1. He was in the SE team that battled out a 0-0 draw against Ghana in Kumasi. In the reverse future, Eguavon benched him for Jankara-Emmanuel Dennis and lost in front of our massive fans.
Just for the records
Bro I like your analysis of the game. Very insightful and garnished with historical tidbits:-) You remind me of Game147 lol
Yusuf performed better than Iwob and Onyedika at AFCON. You guys are always quick to use Gbajue by attacking some players and ignoring the errors from others. Iwobi’s list of concentration under minor press led to the the goal against EQG, and almost gave Angola an equalizer. Onyedika as usual was a passenger with no inputs. Yusuf showed up in all the games he played. He was the top midfielder against EQG, cin the final his injection into the game gave the team the much needed balance.
At AFCONS, the ffg players showed up and should be the main team players: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Ajayi, Inyeka, Lookman, Osimhen, Moses, and Yusuf.
Ndidi, Boni, and Awo would join these folks. By now the new coach should
have separated men from boys.
I agree that Iheanacho played well. Peseiro for reasons best known to him failed to unleash Iheanacho’s potential at the last Afcon. He turned every player to a defender. Glad he is gone. In just one game, Finish has reminded Nigerians that the super eagles can play total football