Former Super Eagles’ ace winger and victorious coach of Enyimba Football Club of Aba, Finidi George, was announced as the new Manager of Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, last week, by the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF. This puts to rest, for now, the search for a new Eagles’ helmsman.
George was chosen ahead of other applicants for the job, which included one of Nigeria’s most famous left wingers of all time, Emmanuel Amuneke, who was also, like George, a member of the “best ever” Eagles squad coached by illustrious Dutch manager, Clemens Westerhof, between 1989 and 1995.
That squad played in the African Nation’s Cup final in 1990, won the trophy in 1994 and earned Nigeria its first qualification for the World Cup in 1994 when Nigeria achieved 5th ranking in the world, the highest ever till date by any African nation.
Finidi George and Amuneke are eminently qualified to lead the Eagles, but the NFF preferred George for three main reasons. He worked with Jose Peseiro in Nigeria’s successful African Nations Cup outing in Cote d’Ivoire in January this year. Following Peseiro’s honourable resignation, George is tailor-made to step into the after-burn in view of the crucial double-headed 2026 World Cup qualifiers against South Africa early in June 2024.
George is therefore much more familiar with our current crop of players. Secondly, his Enyimba FC are the defending champions of the Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL, after some years of struggling for major trophies. Thirdly, George is very much in a position to exploit the local league for the talents he needs to add to our foreign-based stars for the right balance a Nigerian squad needs.
Finidi George, just like the late Stephen Keshi and former Eagle’s coach, Samson Siasia, represents the ideal home-grown professional, national football hero with adequate foreign exposure to inspire respect and loyalty in our players. The ball is now literally in his court to justify the confidence reposed in him.
We urge Finidi George to re-enact the magic he picked up from his former coaches, especially Westerhof and Bonfrere Jo, and revive the fast attack, strong wing play which Nigerian football had used to great advantage. We expect him to rise above the petty sentiments that often draw back our football progress and take decisions that focus strong on results.
Finidi George should take inspiration from other indigenous coaches in Africa who have excelled, such as our own Keshi, Rigobert Song of Cameroon, Hassan Shehata of Egypt, Aliou Cisse of Senegal and others, who have shown that Africa has the capacity to compete at managerial level with the best in the world. Finidi George must bring prestige and esteem to indigenous coaches and glory to Nigeria.
He must continue from where our heroic Stephen Okechukwu Keshi stopped.
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