The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday re-appointed Samson Siasia as head coach of the Super Eagles, few hours after Sunday Oliseh resigned.
Siasia will work with Salisu Yusuf, Emmanuel Amuneke and Alloy Agu for the upcoming 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt.
The combination was recommended by the NFF Technical and Development Committee headed by Chris Green.
In 2012, Siasia was sacked as Super Eagles coach after failing to qualify Nigeria for the African Cup of Nations for the first time since 1986.
Then, the Super Eagles needed a win to progress to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, but Siasia-led team crumbled, conceding a last-minute goal from Guinea to draw the final qualifier 2-2 at Abuja National Stadium.
Angry fans could not hold back their emotions, as they hauled insults at the team, particularly coach Siasia, who they said was the only reason Guinea pulled a draw in Nigeria.
They call for his sack, saying that his unforgiving attitude towards his players, led to the defeat. The coach was accused of high-handed too much grudge against his players, as he left the best out and used players that were not in form.
Prior to the game, Siasia was said to be at loggerhead with some top players, including Ike Uche, Ekigho Ehiosun and Ahmed Musa. He kept them on the bench and played an Osaze Odemwingie who was considered not in good form.
Before then, Siasia had led the Super Eagles to defeat in the hands of a schoolboy team paraded by Togo in the final of the 2011 WAFU Cup in Abeokuta.
Some soccer fans, who reacted to the news of Siasia’s appointment yesterday tagged the NFF Technical committee members as bunch of failures.
“Why is the Technical committee members so much in a hurry to appoint Siasia as replacement for Oliseh since the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, his vice, Seyi Akinwumi and the secretary general, Sanusi Mohammed are away in Zurich for the FIFA election? These people caused the problem for Oliseh in the first place and we will see how far they can go,” one of the fans reacted angrily in a chat with The Guardian yesterday.
