By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The search for a new Head Coach for the country’s senior football team, Super Eagles may have ended as
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) settled for Portugal-born José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro after no other foreign coach indicated interest to replace sacked former coach Gernot Rohr.
Prompt News has exclusively gathered that the NFF will soon announce Peseiro as the substantive coach of the Super Eagles with the announcement to be made before the new year.
According to our trusted sources who are privy to the discussions between the Portuguese gaffer and NFF bigwigs, Peseiro is expected to be part of Nigeria’s delegation to Cameroon in January for the 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Although it is not yet clear on what capacity Peseiro will operate in Cameroon, the NFF is desperate to give him a mouth watery contract to manage the Super Eagles ahead of the final stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 African qualifiers early next year.
The NFF President Amaju Melvin Pinnick had earlier this week confirmed during a parley with a select group of journalists in Lagos that the federation he leads had already talked to three “top class coaches” for Super Eagles vacant job.
According to Pinnick the NFF have spoken to three “top coaches” including Peseiro who was rumoured to have been recommended by AS Roma Portuguese coach, Jose Morinho.
The NFF boss who has told the whole world that erstwhile Head Coach Gernot Rohr was sacked because he lost his dressing room has also promised that the new gaffer of Super Eagles will be someone who will enforce discipline in the team.
Said he: “The emphasis on the new coach is discipline. We will look at his antecedents on discipline. Secondly, we will also look at how hungry he is to win trophies because if they are hungry it supersedes so many things and if he wants to win he will instil discipline. We will look at all these things but I cannot make a pronouncement emphatically because I will be undermining my Executive Committee”.
Aside talking to Peseiro, whose name has been in the mouth of Nigerians, Pinnick revealed that NFF spoke to Serbian coach Mladen Krstajic, saying “We also talked to Mladen (Krstajic) but after talking to him he got a job with a top club in Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv”.
He did not however disclose the identity of the third candidate, a clear indication that the federation may have settled for Peseiro whose resume did not suggest to be one of the “top coaches” in the business of managing top national teams.
His records while managing both Saudi Arabia national team from 2009 to January 2011 and also, Venezuela from February 4, 2020 to August 2021, are far from been impressive to suggest that Peseiro is one of the “top coaches” Nigeria needs after the unimpressive era of Gernot Rohr.
