Former Super Eagles’ captain and head coach, Augustine Eguavoen will make an unexpected return to the Nigerian national tam’s bench next Saturday, as he has been saddled with the responsibility of handling the nation’s B-squad in an international friendly against Mexico.
This is coming hot on the heels of a startling revelation by Eagles’ head coach, Gernot Rohr that he did not select the 25 players that were invited from Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs on Sunday and that he will not be in charge of the team against Mexico.
Dramatically, megasportsaena.com gathered that Eguavoen, who is now technical director of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) did not draw up the list of 25 players, from which only 22 will make the trip to United States of America during the coming week, but he has agreed to take charge of the side for the game at LA Coliseum a day before USA’s Independence Anniversary.
The former player, fondly called ‘Egu’ and ‘Cerezo’ during his active days, had three spells in charge of he Eagles, during which he took them to bronze at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and a second round finish two years later in Ghana, but he has a chance of proving he is not rusty by taking over the mantle for at least one game.
He began his career with ACB FC of Lagos, from where he joined KAA Gent of Belgium in 1986, then went on to play for KV Kortrijk of Belgium, CD Ourense of Portugal, Sacramento Scorpions of USA, Torpedo Moscow of Russia and retired at Sliema Wanderers of Mala.
‘Egu’ was a member of the Eagles’ squad that qualified for Nigeria’s first ever World Cup outing in 1994 and won the African Nations Cup in the same year, six years before he started coaching in Malta with Sliema Wanderers.
He took over the club he last played as an active defender and became their head coach for the 2000/01 season, at the end of which he placed second on the log, after which he was named Eagles’ caretaker coach in June 2005, then moved to Black Leopards of South Africa in March 2008.
Eguavoen was head coach at Enyimba for the 2008/09 season but left after leading them to a third-place finish in the league and won the FA Cup, after which he replaced Lars Lagerbäck as Eagles’ coach in June 2010, again as caretaker coach.
He was also appointed head coach of Nigeria’s under-23 team in August 2010, but he failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, hence his decision to resign, then returned to Enyimba for a short second spell, only to be named chief coach at Sharks of Port Harcourt on October 27, 2012 but resigned after only seven games when the team started at the bottom of the table.
In April 2013, ‘Cerezo’ surprisingly agreed to take over Nigeria National League side, COD United of Lagos, where he was until November of same year, when he was hired by Edo State government for Bendel Insurance FC of Benin City.
However, after failing to take them back to the top-flight, ‘Egu’ resigned in July 2014 to take over at Gombe United, where he was until April 2017, when he joined Sunshine Stars of Akure, but was sacked in June of same year after a home loss to Plateau United of Jos.
He had been silent on the coaching front for a long, with only ceremonial appearances as an analyst, motivational speaker and brand ambassador, until he was appointed NFF technical buff and he will now head back into the thick of action at the start of next month.
Eguavoen will, however, have to conjure quickfire match-winning tactics and blend a hastily assembled squad that was drawn up by former Warri Wolves of Delta State, Enyimba of Aba and under-20 national team, Flying Eagles’ handler, Paul Aigbogun, who is now assistant technical director at Sunday Dankaro House, Abuja.
It was gathered further that Aigbogun picked the squad of 25 NPFL players because he is in charge of domestic scouting in the NFF technical department and for Rohr, who will be absent for the game next weekend, while Eguavoen will be in charge of the team, while the coach who selected the list will serve as assistant on the bench.
Nothing, though, has been said about Rohr’s official assistant coach and former Eagles’ captain, Joseph Ikpo Yobo, whose status in the national team has become quite uncertain, following his absence during the squad’s recent friendlies against Cameroon in Vienna, Austria.
