Kenneth Omeruo of Nigeria
Saturday Apr 13, 2024. 15:00
Kasimpasa defender Kenneth Omeruo has urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to fill the vacant position of head coach before the Super Eagles take on South Africa in June.
The NFF is still exploring its options after parting ways with Jose Peseiro in February, just three weeks after he had guided Nigeria to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final.
Enyimba coach Finidi George has since been handed the reins of the national team on an interim basis as the governing body continues to mull over applications for the job.
Omeruo, who was part of Peseiro’s AFCON squad, believes it is crucial that the West Africans have a permanent man at the helm in place before their 2026 World Cup qualifier against Bafana Bafana.
Nigeria made an underwhelming start to their qualifying campaign after only managing successive 1-1 draws with Lesotho and Zimbabwe in November 2023 to leave them third in Group C.
“We started the World Cup qualifiers poorly, and that’s on us as players, but I do believe we have the quality to qualify for the World Cup,” Omeruo told Brila.
“But we need to sort out the issue of head coach real quickly because June is just around the corner.”
The 30-year-old centre-back felt George did an admirable job under the circumstances during the 2024 FIFA Series friendlies last month as Nigeria beat Ghana 2-1 before suffering a 2-0 defeat to Mali.
“I don’t know about everyone, but for me and a few others, he (George) did well. He was short-staffed. Only one coach working as an analyst, training without an assistant,” Omeruo added.
“I like that he kept the same system we used at the AFCON. But against Mali, I would have played everyone, give everyone a chance to play, and maybe things would have turned out differently, and he would be a strong contender for the job.”
