NEWLY appointed Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen has revealed the need for the country’s national teams to have a distinct playing philosophy, Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports.
The former Super Eagles captain and coach, who will work in the technical arm alongside Paul Aigbogun (Deputy Director, Technical & Scouting); Terry Babatunde Eguaoje (Consultant on Coaching & Development); Abdulrafiu Yusuf (Assistant Director, Coaching & Development); Siji Lagunju (Assistant Director, Training & Development) and; Garba Lawal (Chief Technical Officer), is expected to chart the technical direction of Nigerian football.
In recent time, there have been complaints from different quarters over the poor playing pattern of the country’s national teams, especially the Super Eagles and Eguavoen has promised to address that.
“The first thing is to develop a playing pattern for our country at all levels and by extension develop our coaches too. There will be seminars to be abreast with methods of coaching so that we are not lacking,” begins in an interview with Sportzone, a sports program on Lagos Talks.
“For example, I trained in Holland and I have a preference for their system. You take a center back who is 17 or 18 years old from AZ Alkmaar and you put him into the Dutch national team, he will fit in right away because they have that philosophy, style right from the age group category all the way to the senior teams. Of Course you have to be flexible in your style of play, but you must be identified with one pattern of play.
“So that will also shower down to the clubs as well be it premier league, amateur or NLO, it doesn’t really matter. The thing is, if you call upon from Warri wolves, Kano Pillars or Jigawa, you know that we have an identity that we play and if those teams decide to go the other direction, then they don’t stand a chance. That is exactly what we are trying to do here.
The former Super Eagles manager said there is a need to start grassroots development programmes that would teach budding footballers the rudiments of the game, as well as inculcate in the youths a distinct playing pattern that would form the Nigerian style of football.
“We have to focus on grassroot development now. We have to look for sponsors and make sure we reach out to all the local governments. You can never tell who will come from anywhere. Organise tournaments, school sports, both men and women. Look for sponsors because you cannot leave the job only to the NFF or federal government.
“We have five national team coaches right now and I don’t think it’s too much. We can have national coaches in different regions; they don’t have to be in Abuja. So when they identify talents, the best ones come to the central pool, which is Abuja. The good thing is that the U20s, U17s and U15s don’t have to rack their brain too much to start looking for players. So if we can put that structure right and then have this plan well executed where we have coaches all over schools as well, we can achieve our aims.”
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