President of the Nigeria Football Federation Amàju Pinnick has for the first time spoken on why former captain Sunday Oliseh was considered worthy replacing sacked Stephen Keshi as the next Super Eagles coach.
Oliseh, a former Dortmund defensive midfielder is set to be named Eagles coach this week in Abuja and speaking at the Warri City stadium during yesterday’s league match between Warri Wolves and Enyimba, Pinnick said Oliseh was deemed the best hand for the Eagles because of his high intellectual capacity in coaching and recommendations by the Federation of International Football Associations.
Oliseh has a UEFA Pro Licence certificate, regarded as the highest coaching certificate in the world but comes with a baggage of no experience managing a top team in Europe, Africa, America and no p riot experience coaching of a junior national side.
But rising to defend their choice of Oliseh, Pinnick said the best experience needed to do the job were intellectual capacity and prior experience as a player.
“I absolutely feel that we have made the right choice by picking Oliseh to handle the Super Eagles. In this age of technological advancement, we must start doing things differently. We need a coach with sound intellectual capacity and one who has the highest coaching certificate. He is working with FIFA at the technical study group. The world recognises him and FIFA even recommended him. He has the passion to coach the Eagles and that is also important for us.
“On his lack of experience, Nigerians must realise that he’s not the first to be first named in the world. Berti Vogts and Juergen Klinsmann didn’t have experience when they were appointed, so why the noise about Oliseh”, asked Pinnick rhetorically. Vanguard
