'You want to gamble with the nation's happiness' - Nigerians react to NFF's coaching announcement

Augustine Eguavoen has been appointed to his fourth stint as interim coach of the Super Eagles, the Nigeria Football Federation announced in a press release on Monday, February 7.

The 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner was first appointed interim coach in 2005 and his second period at the helm of the national team was in 2010 before he returned for a third spell as caretaker boss in December 2021.

Former African Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Amuneke has been drafted in as immediate assistant to Eguavoen.

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.

Several Super Eagles fans have taken to Twitter to react to the Nigerian Federation retaining Eguavoen as interim manager.

Some have questioned the reappointment of the former Gent defender and highlighted that his tactical naivety was exposed in the loss to Tunisia, while others had positive reactions.

Here's what they are saying :

@WIZZ_POLL : "Very please with this move. Let’s build on what we achieved in Cameroon".

@yusufdavirus : "Build on failure, we failed in Cameroon, we need total overhauling of the technical crew".

@TalmudicSage : "Good move. I like the addition of Emmanuel Amuneke, he (alongside Samson Siasia) are the best #Nigerian indigenous coaches, by far. Let’s keep it this way until, at least, after the World Cup …. if we qualify."

@yusufdavirus : "This game brings the nation together, you want to gamble with the nations happiness, the nation will not forgive you all, cos we can never qualify with these coaches"

@jarex2_official : "Congratulations @coacheguavoen. Goodluck in the World Cup play offs."

@yusufdavirus : "We lost to Tunisia not because they were better than us, we were technically poor, the coaching crew made a mess of the whole team".

@elay607 : "No video analyst, no fitness coach, no scouting team. This is why they lost to Tunisia.What is Yobo doing there? Complete shambles"

@nuelsneh: "What will happen to Jose Paseiro?"

@TaiwoAdedewe : "What is Yobo’s pedigree? Can he start from the youth team?"

@elijahh53 : "He should be appointed fully not interim. I believe in the system he's setting up but he should scout for a better goalkeeper if he wants to go far. Keepers are now determinant factors also . If we had that Egyptian keeper "Gabaski" I think Super Eagles would go a long way".

Igho Kingsley