Augustine Eguavoen: Will He Justify Clamour for A Local Coach?

After a credible career with the senior national team in which he won the AFCON in 1994 and played in the country’s first taste of a World Cup in the United States same year and the next edition in France, Augustine Eguavoen was to later manage the Super Eagles between 2005-2007 prior to another stint as caretaker coach in 2010. With another temporary appointment weeks to the biennial competition, will Cerezo give the apostles of local coaches for the national teams something to hold on to in Cameroon?

Prior to the sacking of erstwhile national team manager, Gernot Rohr by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare had earlier stated that he would love to see an indigenous coach succeed the Franco-German and it did not take long before his wish came to pass as former Nigerian international, Augustine Eguavoen was appointed to take over the affairs of the national team-on a temporary capacity though.

Speaking during a function in Lagos, recently, Dare remininsced glowingly on the exploits of Nigerian ex-players who led the Super Eagles to success in past editions of the competition.
“At the 1980 AFCON, established stars like Best Ogedegbe, Segun Odegbami, Muda Lawal, Felix Owolabi, Christian Chukwu and others delivered Nigeria’s first-ever AFCON title. The entire nation stood still for them.

“Many members of that squad became renowned coaches after their active playing days and made a huge impact in the game. The captain of that squad, Christian Chukwu would later be the assistant coach when Nigeria won the title for the second time in 1994, and the head coach in 2004 when the Super Eagles won the bronze.

“Another product of the 1980 squad was Kadiri Ikhana who became the first coach to lead a Nigerian club side- Enyimba FC of Aba, to the most prestigious club trophy on the continent in 2003.

“Stephen Keshi would later lead the Super Eagles to Nigeria’s third AFCON title as head coach in 2013. Austin Eguavoen, Samson Siasia and Sunday Oliseh have had their stints as Super Eagles head coaches at one time or the other.

“Nigeria’s last triumph at the AFCON is so significant. Stephen Keshi, the chief coach and his assistant, Daniel Amokachi were 1994 AFCON winners, Sylvanus Okpala, one of the fitness coaches was a 1980 AFCON winner, while the goalkeeper coach, Ike Shorounmu was an AFCON silver medalist in 2000 and bronze medalist in 2002,” Dare had noted.

The sacking of Rohr was seen as a welcome development by Nigerian football fans, while many had questioned the reason why the country’s football governing body hadn’t taken the decision long before now.

The eggheads of the NFF had since appointed Eguavoen in an interim capacity with just few weeks to the Africa Cup of Nations slated to kick off on January 9, in Cameroon.
Eguavoen will take charge of preparing the team for the biennial tournament pending the appointment of a permanent coach.

As a player, the 56-year-old represented the Super Eagles at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.
“The relationship between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Mr. Rohr has come to an end,” NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi had said in a statement on Sunday.
Rohr, a former Germany international, led Nigeria in 58 matches, winning 31, losing 14 and drawing 13 of those matches.

Highly praised for rebuilding the team between 2016 and 2018, the nervy performance of the team since 2020, lacklustre displays and Rohr’s conservative approach were heavily criticised by the local media and fans.

Eguavoen will be assisted by Salisu Yusuf (chief coach), Paul Aigbogun (assistant coach), former captain Joseph Yobo (assistant coach), Terry Eguaoje (assistant Coach) and Aloysius Agu (goalkeeper trainer).

While former internationals Augustine ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Garba Lawal have been appointed to provide ‘technical and ambassadorial’ support for the crew.

Nigeria had been drawn in Group D along with seven-time champions Egypt, Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.
Meanwhile, some ex-internationals have hailed Eguavoen’s appointment.

Former Nigerian international Dimeji Lawal has backed Eguavoen to steady the ship of the three-time African kings, describing him as a good choice.

“I think Eguavoen is a good choice because he played for this country and has served in several capacities within the Nigerian football fraternity,” Lawal told GOAL.
“So, I don’t think it is a bad idea for him to be an interim coach until the NFF decides on what they want to do further.
“And if along the line he does very well, I think he should be given the job on a permanent basis.”

Former Wolfsburg attacker Jonathan Akpoborie has suggested that newly-appointed Super Eagles interim boss would do a better job than dismissed coach Gernot Rohr at the upcoming African Cup of Nations.
Akpoborie was one of those people that fought for Rohr to be appointed Nigeria manager in 2016 but he stopped endorsing the German after the country crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the first round.

Akpoborie noted that an ideal Super Eagles coach should have a lot of experience, something Eguavoen is not lacking having previously coached the national team twice and worked as Technical Director at the Nigerian Federation.

Speaking to Channels TV, Akpoborie said, “Bringing Austin Eguavoen now is a plus for the national team. Any experienced coach would be better than Gernot Rohr right now.

“Austin comes with a lot of experience, his first handling of the Super Eagles we would say he was learning on the job but right now he has a whole lot of experience to handle the Nigeria team not just on the field but also the political issues that could bring pressure into the team.

“I have to say at this point there would be unnecessary pressures because all of those things are the factors that would want you to have a foreigner to handle the Super Eagles not a Nigerian.”
Eguavoen has said it would be difficult to open Nigeria’s training camp early ahead of next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. He said it would be impossible to open the training camp before Christmas unless clubs of the foreign based players release them early.

While players plying their trade in other leagues will get a Christmas break, players in the Premier League and Scottish Premiership will play during the festive period.
“Most of those players are playing in their clubs in Europe as the leagues are still on,” Eguavoen said.

“To get their release at a go is going to be tardy, but we are working on something, and hopefully, just after Christmas, we will see how those guys can also convince their clubs to get released earlier.

“But that is not going to be easy because the leagues are still on, and mind you, in England, they play through Christmas and early new year.”

Nonetheless, Eguavoen hopes all the players will be available by the end of December, which will just be a week before the start of the tournament.

“We have already planned to get the players to come as early as possible, but whereby that is not achieved, we are looking at the end of December or the 1st of January,” he concluded.
Although AFCON begins on the 9th of January, the Super Eagles will still have an extra two days to prepare as they do not play until the 11th of January.

The three-time African Champions will begin their quest for a fourth continental title with a clash against Egypt before further games against Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.
How well Eguavoen would do in Cameroon remains to be seen as the apostles of local coaches are all hoping for a good outing from him.