Former Super Eagles defender Sam Sodje insists the Nigeria Football Federation NFF isn’t taking the 2026 world cup qualifier serious; npflupdates.com reports.
Sam Sodje born in England, represented the Super Eagles in international football, and was capped five times by the three-time African champions.
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Recall the Nigeria Football Federation is yet to announce José Peseiro’s replacement following his exit post 2023 AFCON.
Despite announcing coach Manu Garba as the Golden Eaglets (U-17) coach, the NFF is yet to announce its counterpart in the Super Eagles.
And the delay, according to Sodje isn’t good for the national team who will go head-to-head with arch rivals South Africa in June.
What Sam Sodje said about the vacant Super Eagles coaching position
“I think we’re leaving it too late. A couple of months going into the World Cup qualifiers(Benin and South Africa), not having a manager doesn’t look good at all because it’s not club football,” Sam Sodje told Sports 247.
Highlighting how important enough preparations are to international teams, the 44-year-old said;
“A coach doesn’t see his players as often as he would love to because it’s international football. It’s so sad that we don’t see how important preparation is to these games.”
In a similar story, a former Super Eagles player Friday Ekpo has faulted the NFF’s delay in recruiting a coach.
According to Ekpo, Nigeria is used to rushing things, citing that it’s bad to waste times.
“We are used to rushing, when the time comes we will start to prepare for the tournament.
“NFF shouldn’t be wasting time in choosing the national team coach, so that it won’t affect the player’s performance,” he was quoted by Vanguard Nigeria.
Speaking further, Ekpo argued that the new coach if appointed will need more time to settle down, study the team, look inward for home based players and other players abroad.
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“There is no time to waste in searching for the national team coach, infact we have enough indigenous coaches that can handle the team very well,” he added.
According to sources, Emmanuel Amuneke, Michael Nsien, who coaches the USA U20 team, Danny Bujis from the Netherlands, Domnece Torrent from Spain, and Toni Conceicao from Portugal made the final list out of the initial 60 applicants.
