Posted by Oluwole Josiah, Abuja on
Following the poor show of the Super Eagles in the World Cup qualifier against the Palancas Negras of Angola in Kano on Saturday, the board of the Nigeria Football Association will be making a pronouncement this week on the position of Coach Christian Chukwu as coach of the senior national team.
Following the poor show of the Super Eagles in the World Cup qualifier against the Palancas Negras of Angola in Kano on Saturday, the board of the Nigeria Football Association will be making a pronouncement this week on the position of Coach Christian Chukwu as coach of the senior national team.
Our correspondent learnt on Monday that the NFA board convened an emergency meeting in Kano after the Nigeria/Angola match, where the performance of the technical crew came under scrutiny.
Although details of the meeting were not immediately available, NFA Technical Committee Chairman, Suleiman David, said the meeting was fruitful.
He however, declined comments, saying that the Chairman would make a pronouncement in Abuja on Tuesday on the matter.
Our investigations revealed that the former Rangers coach is on his way out for his inability to instil discipline in the Eagles and his assistant, Austin Eguavoen is being tipped to replace him.
It was further learnt that the board members were angry at the barrier placed by the Ministry of Sports and Social Development in hiring a foreign coach.
The 1-1 draw with Angola and an obvious absence of technical input on the game from the Nigerian bench, they claimed, have further proved that Nigeria need a better coach for the Super Eagles.
When contacted, Chairman of NFA, Ibrahim Galadima, confirmed that the board was discussing the issue of the state of Eagles technical crew, but could not state categorically what the position was.
'I cannot take a decision alone on behalf of the board. We have to meet and discuss it and then we will let Nigerians know what the position is," he said.
Asked when the board would reach a conclusion on the issue, Galadima said it would not be long before things would become clearer.
The Punch, Tuesday, June 21, 2005