The recently released list of players called up to the senior national team of Nigeria for their upcoming international friendly games against Ghana and Mali respectively has led to questions about who was responsible for the players called up, considering that the team is presently without a substantive coach.
26 players largely made up of players who were at the Africa Cup of Nations, where the team finished as runners up losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire in the final, and players who have been a part of the team.
Only two new players were called up in Benjamin Tanimu and Gabriel Osho. It has left many wondering on who picked the players with Jose Peseiro no longer at the helm following the expiration of his contract as coach of the team last month.
OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the list was compiled by Peseiro for the friendly game against Argentina, which was later cancelled due to logistics. He submitted the list while talks were ongoing about extending his deal.
A deadlock in the talks coincided with the deadline in informing the clubs of the invited players, leaving the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with no option but to stick with the list for the games, which was made public on Saturday.
In Peseiro’s absence there is still no clarity on who will lead the team with three coaches namely Austine Eguavoen, who is the technical director of the team or Emmanuel Amuneke who is the leading candidate for the role.
However, Peseiro’s assistant Finidi has emerged as the most likeliest to lead the team with many of the senior players in the team throwing their weight behind the coach of Enyimba.
In their words Finidi has been a part of the setup with Peseiro and understands the players and the conditions around, hence won’t need much time to get used to them considering that they have just one window to work with whoever comes in as coach, before the resumption of the qualifiers for the 2026 world cup in June.
Their opinion has already been made known to the president of the NFF Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who is under pressure to name another person as coach of the team, but still somehow favours a foreign coach ahead of any indigenous coach.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
