Daniel Amokachi, a former striker for the Nigerian Super Eagles and Everton, has indicated that Nigeria’s footballing problem goes beyond coaching.
After their early exit from 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in January this year, the Nigeria’s Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Following the team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, the Nigeria Football Federation fired the technical adviser, Augustine Eguavoen and his assistants.
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The NFF revealed new assistant coaches for the club on Thursday, April 14, with the position of head coach still open.
However, Amokachi believes that changing coaches isn’t the answer, and that the game’s deeper structural challenges must be addressed.
He said;
“Focusing too much on the coaching is like building a house from the roof downwards instead of starting with the right foundation and build upwards
Do we have a solid developmental programme for our young footballers, a proper long-term plan for our national teams or develop a football identity for the game in our country?
I am a product of the Nigerian league. But have we sorted all the issues around our domestic game, from players welfare to the lack of television rights and the chaos around the organisation of local football.
I said something about our over-reliance on Nigerian footballers in the diaspora which was misreported in the media.
My point is that when you consistently rely on players developed and trained by other nations to play for you, then you have seriously failed in your important role of building the future stars.
There are bigger issues that have long bedevilled the Nigerian game and until we fix them, we will just be moving in a circle.”
