Embattled Finidi George has opened up on the turmoil he has faced in his first few weeks in charge of the Super Eagles.
He said he has not received much support from his employers the NFF and he did not hesitate to fault the commitment of the players to the cause of the national team.
This he did when he along with NFF chieftains met with Sports Minister John Enoh in Abuja to review Super Eagles tottering 2026 World Cup campaign after they held South Africa to a 1-1 draw in Uyo before they were shocked by lowly Benin 2-1 in Abidjan.
A source told SCORENigeria that Finidi used the poster-boy of Nigeria football Victor Osimhen to drive home his point that the country’s top stars are not fully committed to the Super Eagles.
Osimhen was not available for the two all-important World Cup qualifiers with an official explanation that he is injured and sidelined for four weeks.
“Finidi said the Napoli striker could still have managed to play these matches,” SCORENigeria was told.
“The coach will go on to say that it appears that Osimhen chooses the games he plays for Nigeria and he cannot beg him to play for his country.”
The former Enyimba coach also bemoaned the complete breakdown of discipline in the team and was totally disappointed with how the players strolled into training camp for the crucial World Cup qualifiers.
He said many of these players have the backing of some powerful NFF Board members and that it became increasingly difficult to sanction them because he would often be warned that a player “belonged” to a certain “big man”.
When I said Oshimen excluded himself from the team, that he doesn’t have any injured, as a seria A AC Milan fan, that I watched Oshimen came in against Lecce in 65 minutes and played till the end without any signs of injuries. How come he get injured 3 days later after the season as ended.
When u saw him cameon He was not fully fit nah .. didn’t u see sir/ma
First players can hide injuries just to make a point. Osimhen may have hidden his injury to play that seria A match since he’s still trying to impress clubs to sign him. Furthermore, he may not wish to aggravate the injury since any new club will have to certify him injury free before signing him.
Let us understand his predicament. Super Eagles are loaded with many striking options
My brother, I respect your opinion, but this one you said is a lie, they brought in a coach the players doesn’t like, and they know it, when Oliseh was happy with the national team, In one of the nations cup matches against Senegal in Lagos,we were loosing,then, it was a taboo, because, Senegal then,was like Bene Republic of today, every body in Nigeria knew Oliseh was sick, but what did he do,he had to jump into the field, not as if,he has the energy, but his presence then, was like Osimeh presence today, didn’t we win that match, we did,so,if Osimeh is happy with the system,he would have come,his presence matters a lot, but trust your NFF, they will brush you aside and say,who you be,no body dey important except them
There are many rivers to cross in Nigerian football. As an ex-international soccer player, I weep for my beloved country. I never believed we will by now still be an amateur footballing nation many years after we were at the verge of conquering the world, after being number 5 best team in the world. There are so many factors that go beyond players, coaches & NFF that are responsible. It takes more than a day or a page to analyze them all. However, these could be encapsulated in one theme “If the foundation (political sector or governance of the nation) is destroyed, what can the righteous do”
If any man’s influence on players is bigger than that of the appointed coach should rather be the coach!
Here is a list of coaches that wins no trophy
A coach with tied hands
A coach that has no influence on players
A coach that has no respect of the players
A coach that has never won anything significant
A coach that is inferior to players
A coach that does favouritism
A coach that operates through tribalism
A coach that is corrupt in getting the job
A coach that is corrupt in players selection
A coach that is sentimental ….list inexhaustible!!!
You don’t need to be a footballer to know this!!!!!!!
Finidi must be very ignorant to male those claims. Why does he need Osimhen to win games? Nigeria has the most talented set of attackers in Africa. Besides, it’s teamwork and tactical acumen that win games. Also, why wasn’t he man enough to name the players who belonged to big men? Why is he behaving like he never played in Europe?
How come every other person is guilty other than the coach? Poor on and off field start by Finidi. Could it be the players don’t believe in him? Other coaches before him didn’t have these complaints of players’ lack of commitment.
Finidi and NFF should tell themselves truth, boys no wan play for finidi, the arrogance on the path of NFF is too much, believing we have the players, so any coach other than Amunike,can do, it’s a lie, boys go decide, even the new oyibo coach should be ready to fight,if you people are not ready to tell yourself truth,by bringing in Amunike,then, the new coach should be ready to search for his own players that will respect and play for him, Osimeh told the world who his mentor is, and you people think he cannot influence other players to shutdown, now see am, everything scatter,way forward is very simple, swallow our pride and do the right thing,or,we go scout for a fresh team, players do this job, not coaches, you talk,we do wetin dey our mind inside field, rubbish
Actually, the NFF seemed to have not considered competence, qualification, experience and exposure in making its choice. To ignore Amunike and Siasia, who could have even done better than many foreign coaches, was a big shock. Sometimes, considering the options of the players in choice of a coach may help. Why do we selfishly sacrifice the success and good of this country for parochial and sectional interest without counting the irredeemable costs? The choice of Finidi over those with excellent credentials and experience was a shock; but Finidi’s excuses for failure was a greater shock.
Finidi can’t afford osimen shoe
Any coach worthy of a sound capacity should not be talking of interference from the footballing authorities. This also suggests that his screening for the coaching job was also interfred with, to his advantage. He is failing the Nation and should stop making excuses. After all he has not shown any sign that he is willing to resign his job. Rather he is exhibiting a willingness, much to still play the role of an assistant coach.
There’s an adage in ibo that said he that feed on human flesh should pinch himself and see how painful it is. To bring in an injured Victor Osimhen as excuse for not winning your matches is rather a flimsy, the Benin Republic team that scored a victory over super Eagles doesn’t a striker in the capacity of victor Osimhen. The coaches you played against saw the weakness in super Eagles team. And what was it, super Eagles defense when under consistent pressure looses coordination and allows free spaces that the fast opposition attackers can use to strike. This problem was obvious right from the super Eagles final game against Ivory Coast at Afcon but the coaches didn’t see it.
So it’s not about an injured Osimhen who wants to recover fully so that he can save his career and still serve in good health. After all the likes of victor Boniface was available, Terem moffi was available, Paul onuachu was available. But they couldn’t find space to score for the team because in our build up we were holding the ball so much and allow recover their positions and defend. most of the super Eagles passes are not well connected. So technical problems are the issues and that’s coaches matter.
Dont make Osimhen your scape goat, how many matches have you ciached super eagles. Out 200 million Nigerians you can’t find a replacement for an injured player then the probkem lies with you not the player
There were so many players like lookman who are to me FAR better than Osimhen if placed in his position. Even Boniface is superior.
The clear fact is that Finidi is clueless. Lets accept this truism before we move any further.
I don’t know a coach that will teach naija players that modern football is all about GOAL, GOAL & nothing but GOALS, not back pass. Touch, you touch football and when it remains 5 minutes to go, everyone will be running towards goal post like mad bulldog. Let’s players always watch 1994, 1996 team. Naija has no player except few. We recycle old ones. If you see Basey and the other guy defending, just go and score. Where is Ekong?
Anyway, what is working in naija?
Ake your points without labelling any Player. Don’t try to throw anyone under the bus of your failure.
Osimhen and all these players are so loyal to their fatherland.
Finidi, if you failed today, you’ll do well next time. Leave our Osimhen alone.
We don’t want a repeat of Oliseh Vs. Enyeama saga.
Finidi George is a disintegrator, a bad manager and you lied to Nigerians Troost Ekon had injuries, until he came out to debunk your lies and you have not denied it and here you are again lying to Nigerians you can’t beg Osimhen to play for Nigeria. You must go, you are a compulsive liar and a disaster to our national team.
This is a report that NFF must take seriously. Let’s call a spade a spade and hit nail on the head.
Osimhen is not your problem you are clueless and corrupt like the whole system. What do you expect when you did your invites. You cannot plant a yam and harvest a cassava. You are simply not good enough. Bury your head in shame and apologize you are too arrogant for my liking
Why won’t you beg him if you need to. All you want or need is good result and if he can contribute to the result you want the so be it. Na pride set spoilt most of we Nigerians
You just got on board, and already looking to sanction players. Oga please win a match first before you start giving excuses. If the sit is too big, kindly climb down
Finidi lacks tactics and strategies to build a team, talkless of discipline to escalate to be a winning team. This is same for Amuneke and Amokachi, except Siasia… Please bring back Siasia that in Africa level, no coach can intimidate him, and he can coach under pressure
The coach, NFF and players all have their parts in this whole mess up.
I refuse to be unnecessary bias against Finidi, he has his fault wch bothers on arrogance and poor Mgt of players, the NFF employing a coach about a month to the crucial match didn’t present an organization that has vision to succeed, the players strolling into the camp two days to the match distrupted the coach’s training schedule why will the team that did not have up to two full training section perform well, how would they have imbibed the new Coach philosophy?
In making our points let be fair and be less emotive so that we could see soln to work with.
We must be careful not to castrate our coaches to the extent they will be afraid to discipline our stars when they err.
To butress Finidi claim about poor attitude of our players, those players whose club leaque matches ended before the list was rolled out yet did not report to camp on time, will they do that in their club, I read Ndidi and Nacho complained they never had a full training section 2days to SA matches due to players non arrival in the camp,. Dear Nigerians if na you will you perform magic,?
GOD FORBID THAT I WILL JOIN THIS MOB ACTION AGAINST FINIDI COS I PREFER ANOTHER PERSON TO BE THE COACH OF SE..
LET’S BE FAIR PLS!!!
Finidi is too clueless! NFF should not have paid him any dime for the show of shame. He lacks tactical capacity to coach The Super Eagles. #spits.