Super Eagles have had enough of the Peseiros

I’m actually baffled at the rate at which the subject of Jose Paseiro’s contract renewal has become one of the hotly-debated issues in Nigeria football circle.

Some have adduced this to the fact that Nigeria’s Super Eagles reached the final of the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Personally, I think Nigeria has had enough of the Paseiros; by this, I mean it is time we start investing in our indigenous coaches. If Paseiro should leave, there are many candidates who can step into the position of the coach of the national team.

This is where I beg to differ: I believe the obsession about Paseiro is a reflection of the desperation in the country as people have been weighed down by socio-economic and socio-political problems for too long that any vestige of relief or upbeat news would be taken as heroics.

To take a reductionist view of Paseiro’s tenure as coach of the Super Eagles and encapsulate it in a second-placed finish at AFCON 2023 is to pretend that the relatively recent ‘shoddy’ performances by our national team, which has now culminated in the country’s World Cup qualification hanging in the balance never happened.

Furthermore, Paseiro’s ‘heroics’ may start to unravel more when the searchlight turns to the technical details of our team’s performances, which is bound to expose some worrying fissures in terms of how our hitherto beautiful style of football was reduced to a desperate defence-oriented football philosophy.

The only game in which Super Eagles registered more than one goal in that tournament was the match against Cameroon. This was despite the fact that Nigeria paraded one of the most lethal strikers in Europe, in the shape of Victor Osimhen.

For those who are still doubting the young man’s prowess in front of goal, they may not need to look too far when they consider the fact that it has only taken him less than two weeks to return to what he does best, which is finding the back of the net; for the record, a couple of days ago, he scored a hat-trick against Sassuolo in a Serie A match bringing his post-AFCON tally to five goals: this is the same player that only managed to score just once for his country in seven matches during the African premium tournament.

Nigeria football philosophy prides itself with the passing game. Obviously, Paseiro’s opted for defensive-minded tactics, and his ‘I only need one goal to win’ statement during one of his press conferences as reported by some news media outlets is a confirmation that he knows nothing about Nigeria’s football tradition.

Unfortunately, in football, there is a limit to which a defensive team can absorb pressure, which explains the ‘attack is the best form of defence’ mantra.

It was therefore no surprise that Super Eagles could only put up a below-par performance in the final against Cote d’Ivoire after defending in all the preceding six games in the tournament. Simply put, they became fatigued, and quite naturally so.

I believe many will agree with me that Super Eagles have never been so overly dominated – possession-wise – by any African team, at least in recent history, in any tournament; it was a shame watching South Africa, taking the lion share of ball possession at sixty-something percent against Nigeria in the quarterfinal match.

Paseiro has been basking in the glory of a pre-tournament agreement of getting the team to the semi-final stage; to be candid, it is incredulous that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would ever settle for any second best position in any regional or global football tournament considering that this a team representing a country of over 200 million people.

Our mantra should always be to beat the best; this is a fact considering that an esteemed football figure like Arsene Wenger recently stated that one of the most underachieving football nations in the world today is Nigeria considering the array of our stars plying their trade in top leagues all over the world (I have loosely paraphrased his statement here.)

Personally, I think Nigeria has had enough of the Paseiros; by this, I mean it is time we start investing in our indigenous coaches. If Paseiro should leave, there are many candidates who can step into the position of the coach of the national team.

For example, Finidi George was part of the coaching staff in the just concluded AFCON – give him a chance.

Emmanuel Amuneke has managed our under 17 to global stardom – this will represent natural development:

The ban on Samson Siasia expires soon in August of this year – his record with the Under-20 team speaks volumes.

If we can be patient with the foreign coaches, why not apply the same attitude to our indigenous talents?

Anytime our football administrators converge to debate the subject of coaching the national team, let them always remember that the most achieving football coach for the Super Eagles to date – and I make bold to say, unarguably – is a Nigerian named Stephen Keshi.

Take time to compare records and you’ll be shocked at his exploits dating back from when he was the assistant to the late Shuaibu Amodu.