Former Flying Eagles Manager, John Obuh has absolved Coach Paul Aigbogun of blame for Nigeria’s failure at the on-going FIFA U-20 Cup in Poland.
Nigeria exited the competition following its 1-2 loss to Senegal in the second round. The Flying Eagles barely managed to qualify for the second round after winning one, losing one and drawing their last game in the group stage.
Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Obuh noted that the Flying Eagles’ assistant coaches contributed mostly to the team’s woeful performance in Poland due to their absence during preparations for the U-20 Cup.
He said that Aigbogun was with the players in Europe without his assistants and so had nobody to help him prepare the team.
“I don’t like when people keep blaming Aigbogun for the Flying Eagles’ failure in Poland. As an experienced coach, you can’t expect the head coach of a team to get the best result when he had nobody to help him prepare the boys.
“The assistant coaches were busy with club engagements in Nigeria while the team was preparing for the competition. They only joined the team in Poland.
“What impact do you think they will make in the Flying Eagles at that point?” he asked.
He said it was wrong for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to allow only the head coach to choose the players for the competition, saying the situation affected the team.
“This is a lesson that we all should learn from,” he added.
