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AFCON Qualifying Rounds, Nigeria Are Once Again a Disaster

Posted : 11 April 2023
In this week's 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying doubleheader against Guinea Bissau, Nigeria holds a significant edge since behind-the-scenes intrigue has once again grabbed center stage.

The Super Eagles presently lead the group by two points over their opponents this weekend and have six points and a remarkable +11 goal differential. It would take a catastrophe of terrible proportions for them to fail to earn the four points necessary to secure a trip to Cote d'Ivoire in January.

The real football may end up being the sideshow since there is so much going on in the Nigerian national team setup right now that this is not altogether improbable.
Nigeria has a history of making mistakes that end up hurting themselves. The coaching change that occurred in late 2021 cost them both a podium finish at the most recent AFCON and a spot in the 2022 World Cup. This was their most recent instance of self-sabotage.

To make matters worse, they were forced to continue paying fired coach Gernot Rohr his full $45 000 monthly salary for the final month of his contract, which had just ended in December, while hiring Jose Peseiro at an almost double $70 000 monthly income.

Between June and December 2022, that works out to $115 000 on the expense sheet for coaching wages alone, for a total of $805 000. Only three of those months, it seems, have seen payment for Peseiro.

In addition to the reported financial issues, it was reported that two of Peseiro's trainers, former internationals Finidi George and Ike Shorunmu, had reportedly been let go.

Usman Abdallah took the place of Ajax star Finidi, and Olatunji Baruwa, the goalkeeping coach for under-23 players, replaced Shorunmu.

Ademola Olajire, the NFF's director of communications, said “As part of cost-cutting measures instituted at the beginning of the new administration, we established a rotation policy among the assistant coaches, based on the high number, which was agreed with all of them.”

He swiftly issued a statement, however, denying that the coaches had been fired and asserting that the NFF's new cost-cutting measures had involved a coaching rotation.

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