With barely two weeks to the Super Eagles' opening match in the AFCON 2025 qualifying round of matches, former Nigeria international, Kingsley Onye, who is better known as "Mature" has called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that they are running against time.
"We courting another disastrous opening just as we have turned the World Cup qualifier to be", remarked the former left-sided defender from his base in the UK.
To him, not having a coach in place, two weeks before a major competition implies a poor approach to the qualifiers. "The popular saying goes that to fail to plan is to plan to fail", remarked Onye who in the 1980s featured for major Nigerian clubs such as the defunct Leventis United, Iwuanyanwu Nationale and Enugu Rangers which remains the club after his heart, even till now.
He pointed out that while they have not been able to get a foreign coach owing possibly to lack of funds, "the NFF should latch on the opportunity of the expiration of the ban on Samson Siasia."
According to him, Siasia remains Nigeria's best option. "First, he is a Nigerian. More importantly, he has done it before and has proved his mettle."
He pointed out that Siasia has possibly the best coaching profile in the country today. "He has silver and bronze medals in the Olympics, he has coached the Super Eagles even to major victory against a team like Argentina and has taken the Flying Eagles to the championship match in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
"A Lionel Messi-propelled Argentina had to depend on two penalty kicks to beat Siasia's Flying Eagles in the final match of the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.
"Argentina also had to depend on a break-away move to beat Siasia's team in the gold medal match of the Beijing Olympics", Onye pointed out.
To him, that is the best option for Nigeria, even as he advocated for another Nigerian international and coach, Sylvanus Okpala as Siasia's assistant.
"This we can do in the short term while hoping for a long-term solution", said Onye. He pointed out that Okpala was pivotal in Stephen Keshi's crew that led Nigeria to victory at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
"Okpala is a good match reader and his support for Siasia will be valuable as he had done with Keshi," he pointed out.
