Sali-What? Only one Nigerian coach is good enough for the Super Eagles – Former Enyimba boss

Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Usman Abdallah, believes the lack of quality Nigerian coaches justifies the need for a foreign manager for the national team, Soccernet.ng reports.

This statement follows the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) consideration of hiring a foreign coach after Finidi George’s resignation last month.

Finidi’s departure came after the NFF announced plans to appoint a foreign technical adviser due to public outcry over the team’s poor performance, including a surprising defeat to Benin Republic in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

As the NFF searches for the next coach, reports suggest officials have approached Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro and are considering Frenchman Hervé Renard and former England manager Steve McClaren.

Many Nigerian coaches, such as Emmanuel Amunike, Sunday Oliseh, Daniel Amokachi, and Michael Nsien, have been contenders for the Super Eagles job and are regarded highly by fans.

However, Abdallah insists that none of these coaches are suitable for the position. He asserts that only Salisu Yusuf, despite his controversial past, is qualified.

Salisu Yusuf’s reputation suffered in 2018 when a BBC Africa investigation showed him accepting a cash gift to include two players in his squad for the 2018 African Championship (CHAN).

Though the BBC stated there was no evidence the bribe influenced his decisions, the incident damaged his image, and many opposed his return as head coach.

Abdallah expressed his views clearly to the Punch: “It doesn’t bother me whether the NFF is considering bringing Jose Peseiro back or if they want to hire Hervé Renard as the Eagles coach as long as they can afford to pay their salaries,” he said.

“The issue is, I have heard people say they don’t want us to spend money on the foreign coach but show me a coach qualified for the Eagles job who is a Nigerian whether home or abroad. The fact is we don’t have it.

“The only person we have is Salisu Yusuf, who a lot of people don’t want because of what happened in the past, but I don’t want to argue about that. Nigerian coaches have always been serving as assistants and none of us can argue that we were better than those we’ve worked with.”

Abdallah also criticized the NFF for allowing foreign coaches to bring their assistants, hindering local coaches’ growth.

The NFF aims to resolve the coaching issue promptly as Nigeria seeks to improve their World Cup qualifying campaign, having secured only three points from 12 and sitting fifth in their six-team group.

Missing consecutive World Cups, after failing to qualify for Qatar 2022, would be disastrous for the Super Eagles.