Super Eagles: How to support indigenous coaches to grow, win laurels

Finidi George (middle) and Super Eagles’ player, Calvin Bassey, at a recent international friendly against Ghana in Morocco

The Nigerian Football Federation’s (NFF) appointment of an indigenous coach for the senior national team is fait accompli in the light of the current economic realities. But the most difficult part of the pact is the requisite freehand, respect, and enabling environment that had erstwhile been the exclusive ‘privilege’ of expatriate coaches, CHRISTIAN OKPARA writes.

Environment, they say, plays a huge role in shaping the outcome of a project. An individual, who gets all the support he needs to accomplish a given task, often makes a success of that venture, even when that particular task seems daunting.

Conversely, when the basic requirement for the execution of that task is denied, the individualis almost always bound to fail no matter how he tries. Such is the life of a football coach saddled with the responsibility of leading a team to attain certain targets.

On March 2, 1990, in Algiers, the Super Eagles suffered their worst result in over 10 years when they were beaten 5-1 by hosts, Algeria, in the opening game of that year’s Africa Cup of Nations. It was Clemens Westerhof’s first outing at the AFCON since he assumed the role of Super Eagles’ manager in 1989. This latest hounding came almost a year after failing to qualify the Super Eagles for their first World Cup appearance at Italia ’90 following two damaging losses to Gabon and Cameroon in the last legs of the qualifying series.

Westerhof inherited a team that was leading with two points a group that also had Angola before the last two qualifying matches. But as has been the tradition with the country’s football officials, the Nigeria