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Plans of naming a
substantive coach for the Super Eagles on or before an earlier set
deadline of October 1, 2010 is no longer feasible, the acting head of
the Nigeria Football Federation Musa Ahmadu has said.

“In all honesty, I
do not see us having a coach that will be contracted on a long term
basis before the earlier set target of October 1st 2010 giving the
circumstances surrounding the elections; the decision taken by the
court to annul it and all that,” he said.

Ahmadu, who is
currently in charge of affairs at the NFF however revealed that the
football house will be relying on stand-in coach, Augustine Eguaveon to
lead the Eagles when they take on the Syli Stars of Guinea on October
10 – in their second game of the ongoing Africa Nations Cup qualifiers
in Conakry.

“The problems
notwithstanding, the preparation for the second game against Guinea in
Conakry will go on as we will be talking to the interim coach to see if
the previous arrangement that we have on ground can still go on and I
am sure as a matured person he would look at it and oblige us,” he said.

Orphaned Eagles

The Super Eagles
have been without a coach since the departure of Swede, Lars Lagerback
who did not return to his duty post after the disappointing outing at
the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

The previous board
of the NFF had earlier held negotiations with Heartland Coach Samson
Siasia and looked set to name the Beijing Olympics Silver winning coach
as manager of the Eagles before disagreements over wages put the deal
on hold.

While Siasia
requested for a $100,000 monthly salary and a signing-on fee, the NFF
offered him a monthly salary of $20,000. The situation however took
another dimension as the now suspended board announced that will
advertise the Super Eagles coaching post rather than stick with Siasia.

Lawal’s advice

Meanwhile, former
Super Eagles player Garba Lawal has advised that the NFF should be
proactive in resolving the appointment of a coach for the team .
According to Lawal, a prompt decision will go a long way in keeping the
team focused as they seek qualification for the 2012 Nations Cup to be
jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

“Sincerely I am not
happy when we waste so much time in naming coaches for our teams, it
was the same attitude that affected our game at the World Cup where we
only named a coach just three four months to the World cup. I just hope
they can make up their mind to pick someone on time,” he said.

Nigeria is currently behind Guinea in the standings as it only
managed a 2-0 victory over Madagascar while Guinea secured a 4-1
victory over Ethiopia in Addis Ababa