Ex Nigeria international footballer, Segun Odegbami, has urged the Nigeria Football Federation to look inward for a local coach to handle the Super Eagles.
Odegbami, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Lagos State, said that Nigeria deserved a better hand to handle the Super Eagles.
Portuguese manager, Jose Peseiro, confirmed his departure as coach of the Super Eagles after his contract officially expired on Thursday.
Peseiro led the Eagles to a runner-up finish at the 2023 African Cup of Nations, on Friday, saying he was satisfied coaching the West African nation. “Unless we want to be enslaved forever, in our colonial mentality where we think that only the white can coach us to success.
“All around us, we see some Nigerians who are excelling in all fields of endeavours and they are leaving the country to go and help other countries.
“Football is not a rocket science, but a simple game. We have lots of Nigerians who have all the qualifications to take us to any level.
“For me, I won’t suffer from colonial mentality again and enough of foreign coaches. Now, it’s time for a Nigerian coach to handle our national team, ” Odegbami said. He advised the former Super Eagles Coach, Peseiro, to move on out of the coaching role of the Super Eagles.
Odegbami said that Peseiro had performed moderately as coach of the Super Eagles.
“Peseiro did not resign as the story is being peddled. His contract ended and it was not renewed, end of story.
“He should bow out when the ovation is loud. If the ovation was not loud, the government wouldn’t have given him the award that nobody could have ever imagined.
“Peseiro got a reward that has never been given to any coach in the world, not because he won the AFCON, but because he came second.
“He should leave Nigeria alone to face the future. We need a coach who will take us to win something because we are tired of coaches who cannot win anything for us.”
