Jo Bonfrere, known for leading Nigeria to the
Atlanta'96 Olympics gold medal as well as the 2000 African Nations Cup final
has indicated he knows how to resuscitate the fortunes of the Super Eagles if
he's handed the coaching role on a permanent basis. Sunday Oliseh amazingly quitted
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.
Jo Bonfrere, who was 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.
Jo Bonfrere, who was 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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