I can get the Super Eagles flying again to the next W/Cup - former coach Bonfrere Jo cries out for job
Bonfrere Jo, known for leading Nigeria to the Atlanta'96
Olympics gold medal as well as the 2000 African Nations Cup final has stated he
knows how to revive the fortunes of the Super Eagles if he's handed the
coaching role on a permanent basis. Sunday Oliseh shockingly resigned from his
position as head coach two weeks ago and Samson Siasia alongside a team of
ex-internationals has been put in temporary charge of the Super Eagles.
But Bonfrere, brought to the country by Dutchman Clemens
Westerhof says most coaches that have coached Nigeria don't know how to handle
the job hence their failure rate, saying only Stephen Keshi could handle the
pressure of the Super Eagles job.
I know Nigeria very well; I worked there for a long time to
understand the players' and the officials' thought processes. I understand that
Nigerian players like to play football and that was why I worked very well with
the players. If you don't understand the players, their mentality, then it will
be very difficult for any coach to work with them and get the best from them.''
He said to CompleteSportsNigeria.
''Your local coaches don't always succeed because you have
too many people who put pressure on them and again international football is beyond the local
coach.''
I'm interested of course (in the job), because I enjoyed
working in Nigeria. it's because you have a whole lot of good players with
technique, who love to work very hard and always want to play. The most
important thing, as a foreign coach, I have to teach the players how to play
good football. Certainly, I'm interested (in coming back to Nigeria as Super
Eagles coach). Of course, I would like to go with Nigeria to the African Cup of
Nations; I would like to go with the Super Eagles to the World Cup in Russia
2018.
Before you work at that level (of being a coach) and succeed
you must first of all have the experience. Oliseh did not have that, so it was
going to be very difficult.
''It is the duty of the coach to build a strong squad,
identify those he needs to get the job done and bring them along. In this case,
the players and his backroom staff or his assistants. What he thinks will give
him result is what he would like to do. The important thing is the success of
the team and Nigeria and not only that of the coach.''
''It is difficult for the local coaches to coach Super
Eagles because they don't have experience in international football outside
Africa. They have their coaching experience from inside Nigeria, not outside,
so it is very difficult for the local coaches to handle teams successfully. In
Africa, if you have local coaches in your teams, it's likely there's going to
be no result, but with foreign coaches, you have more chances of getting
success.''
''Nigeria have won the Nations Cup three times, one by Keshi.
Who won the other two, Nigerian coaches or foreign? My position is foreign
coaches are better in position to win than local coaches.''
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