9th September, 2015
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, is reportedly lining up two international friendlies for the Super Eagles in a bid to help Coach Sunday Oliseh accelerate his building process for a new senior men’s national team.
Oliseh has only been in the technical area in two competitive games, one resulting in a win, but many soccer pundits were of the opinion that the matches were characteristically below par performances from the Eagles.
The first assignment for Oliseh was 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match away to Tanzania which ended 0-0 in Dar es Salam and next was the international friendly against Niger in Port Harcourt, Rivers State which Nigeria won 2-0.
It was gathered through sources close to the leadership of NFF that plans are underway for the football authority to take maximum advantage of the next international breaks between 5-13 October and 9-17 November by having the Eagles play fitting Grade A friendlies.
Ghana and Cameroon are however the choice opponents on the books. Though the federation is yet to confirm, discussions would soon be opened with the national federations of the two countries.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the NFF, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, said on a Lagos-based radio station Wednesday that the ongoing rejuvenation of the Eagles can be compared to the era of Dutch Coach Clemens Westerhof.
Sanusi, who is currently in Congo with the Super Falcons and the Dream Team VI said that the Eagles are sure to come out better.
“Sunday Oliseh’s first game has not been all that bad. We only need to be a little bit patient; Rome was not built in a day, especially when you realize he is setting up a new team.
“We should cast our minds to the days of Westerhof when we would lose home and away until we started getting things right and we built a team the entire country was proud of. We have to be patient to appreciate what’s happening with the team under Oliseh,” said the NFF’s scribe.