By Daily Sports on January 21, 2022

Nigeria interim coach Augustin Eguavoen will likely keep the job on a permanent basis, but only if he wants it, a top NFF official has told ESPN.

Eguavoen, who is currently the Nigeria Football Federation technical director, was named to the post last month in an interim capacity after the NFF fired former coach Gernot Rohr ahead of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Despite having barely two weeks to train the team before the tournament, the former Super Eagles defender has transformed the side on the back of three successive wins at AFCON.

"We will have to leave him there, unless he doesn't want the job," the official told ESPN.

The decision will present something of an awkward conundrum for the NFF, who had already announced Portuguese Jose Peseiro as the man to take over the job on a permanent basis after AFCON.

Peseiro, 61, was expected to be in Cameroon as an observer prior to taking over for the World Cup qualifiers in March, but has not travelled.

"He is not in Cameroon because we have not signed a contract with him yet," the official, a member of the NFF executive council who does not want to be named, told ESPN.

"If he had signed a contract, he would have definitely been in Cameroon as planned."

Now, following three outstanding performances by the Super Eagles, in which they became the only one out of the 24 competing sides to finish the group stage with a 100% record, that contract may never be signed.

"We are managing the public trust. So we have to look at what the people want and we also know what we want as well," added the official.

"What we all agree on is that we want the team to do well, to play good football, to make Nigerians happy and to win trophies.

"It doesn't matter who the coach is, what matters is the objective. If that objective can be achieved with Eguavoen as we can see now, then why not?

"We removed Rohr because Nigerians were not happy with the play and we were not blind to see that we were not going in the right direction the way we were playing."

If he decides to exit his post as NFF technical director to take up the Eagles job, Eguavoen would be leaving a guaranteed position for one of uncertainty, but that might not be necessary.

"What we are even thinking of right now is to give Eguavoen the two jobs. The national team plays about 10 matches a year, so during those times when they are not playing, he can carry on with his other responsibilities," the official said.

"Coaching is very touch and go. Right now, he has a stable job being Technical Director where he gets paid by FIFA. To leave that for being a coach where things can change any moment and he can get fired would be very risky.

"That is why we want him to keep the two positions. So that whatever happens, he has shown that he can excel in both and if anything happens with the coaching, he can go back to just being technical director."

Although the NFF is uncertain about whether or not Eguavoen will accept the job, a source close to the coach told ESPN the former defender would prefer the Super Eagles job.

"Eguavoen definitely wants the Super Eagles job," the source said. (ESPN)

•PHOTO:Eguavoen

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 21, 2022

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