NFF drops Poseiro, retains Eguavoen as Super Eagles’ interim manager

• Drafts Amuneke  to technical crew

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the reconstitution of Super Eagles’ technical crew, with Augustine Eguavoen staying as interim technical adviser and former national team star, Emmanuel Amuneke, drafted in as immediate assistant to Eguavoen.

The federation has also dropped the idea of hiring Mr. Jose Poseiro as Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, stressing that recent events have compelled them to stick with Eguavoen for now as well as bring in Amuneke who is a member of both FIFA and CAF Technical Study Groups.

“The NFF board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee retaining Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim), while Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles. Salisu Yusuf will be the second Assistant Coach/Chief Coach of the CHAN team and Joseph Yobo will be third Assistant while Aloysius Agu remains the Goalkeepers’ Trainer,” NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, announced.

Sanusi added: “We acknowledge and appreciate the interest that Mr Jose Peseiro has shown in Nigeria Football during our very cordial discussions and have absolutely no doubt about his capacity. We believe that perhaps in the future, there could be an opportunity to work with him.  However, in view of the positive performance of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations which has given hope to Nigerians and boosted our confidence in the present coaching crew to qualify us for the World Cup in Qatar, we have decided to accept the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee to retain the Eguavoen-led coaching crew and strengthen it with the addition of Emmanuel Amuneke.”

A member of the NFF Technical Committee, Dahiru Sadi, is optimistic that the country will beat Ghana to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.