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NFF is acting under pressure, says Onigbinde
In the aftermath of the redeployment of Super Eagles coach Shaibu Amodu to the "Team B" by the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Instructor, Adeboye Onigbinde, says the shortlist of five foreign technical advisers, one of who would take over from the Amodu, may be as a result of the pressure on the FA to return the team to the path of virility.
In one of the points of the communiquŽ, "The Executive Committee directed the Technical Committee to commence immediate contact and complete screening of five candidates pencilled down for the Super Eagles job by the end of this month.
"The Technical Committee must also recommend to the Executive Committee a short-list of three out of the following five names, Bruno Metsu, Guus Hiddink, Ratomir Dujkovic, Louis van Gaal and Peter Taylor."
Asked to comment on the decision of the NFF board, ex-international and immediate past assistant coach of the Super Eagles, Daniel Amokachi, preferred to remain mum saying, "Call Shaibu Amodu abeg. I don't have anything to tell The Guardian or any newspaper."
However, Onigbinde said the scenario that is playing out now is akin to what happened in 2002, and a reflection of the pressure that the NFF is under right now as they try to get the team to gather steam ahead of the World Cup.
"What is happening now is more or less what happened in 2002 when I was brought in to take the Super Eagles to the World Cup after the team collapsed at the Cup of Nations in Mali. Though, we found time to play three friendly matches, but we could not achieve due to time constraint".
The veteran coach who stated his preference for a consortium of Nigerian coaches handling the team to the World Cup in concert with Amodu, stressed, "Whoever comes in now has barely three full months to draw up and implement whatever programme he has up his sleeve.
"I strongly believe that a consortium of Nigerian coaches should have been put in place to see what they can come up with.
He, however, advised that whatever the football house is doing should be in the interest of Nigerians and the growth of football in the country.
Asked to rate the performance of the ousted coach, he declined saying, "I do not have his contract papers so I don't know what NFF outlined for him to achieve. But if he had been a bit careful, in terms of human relations, things may have been different."
However, the Executive Committee applauded the decision of the Federal Government, through the Presidential Task Force on Super Eagles' World Cup Qualification and the National Sports Commission, to fund the hiring of a new Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles.
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