Babalola Oluwatomiwa
Social Member
A top NFF official has revealed that Emmanuel Amunike will not be promoted to the national U20 level, due John Obuh and Manu Garba failure after an impressive spell at the U17 stage.
Manu Garba won the 2013 edition of the FIFA U17 world at the United Arab Emirate but failed to replicate the same success in his U20 team in New Zealand in 2015.
John Obuh was elevated to the U20 national team after he guided the country to the final of the 2009 U17 World Cup, which incidentally Nigeria hosted. He subsequently reached the last eight of the U20 World Cup in 2011, before he crashed out in the Round of 16 two years later.
“It is expected that the (NFF) president (Amaju Pinnick) will announce Amuneke will stay on as U17 coach so as to build on the experience and gains of his first stint as head coach. The arrangement of automatically promoting a coach from U17 to U20 has not worked because we are talking of two different levels of the game,” a top official disclosed.
“Take the example of Mexico. The coach who led them to the final two years ago in Abu Dhabi is the same man who guided them to the semi-finals in Chile. There are many such examples.”
Amuneke has endured a less than cordial relationship with his employers, but Pinnick himself has come out to reveal he resisted pressures to sack him after the Eaglets finished a disappointing fourth at the CAF U17 Championship in Niger earlier this year.
The NFF boss has equally commended the former Barcelona winger for staying focused and thereby getting the job done.
“He has clearly rubbished all insinuations and dark innuendoes against him and has continued to do a marvelous job quietly. He has earned his respect,” Pinnick said glowingly of Amuneke. Africanfootball
Manu Garba won the 2013 edition of the FIFA U17 world at the United Arab Emirate but failed to replicate the same success in his U20 team in New Zealand in 2015.
John Obuh was elevated to the U20 national team after he guided the country to the final of the 2009 U17 World Cup, which incidentally Nigeria hosted. He subsequently reached the last eight of the U20 World Cup in 2011, before he crashed out in the Round of 16 two years later.
“It is expected that the (NFF) president (Amaju Pinnick) will announce Amuneke will stay on as U17 coach so as to build on the experience and gains of his first stint as head coach. The arrangement of automatically promoting a coach from U17 to U20 has not worked because we are talking of two different levels of the game,” a top official disclosed.
“Take the example of Mexico. The coach who led them to the final two years ago in Abu Dhabi is the same man who guided them to the semi-finals in Chile. There are many such examples.”
Amuneke has endured a less than cordial relationship with his employers, but Pinnick himself has come out to reveal he resisted pressures to sack him after the Eaglets finished a disappointing fourth at the CAF U17 Championship in Niger earlier this year.
The NFF boss has equally commended the former Barcelona winger for staying focused and thereby getting the job done.
“He has clearly rubbished all insinuations and dark innuendoes against him and has continued to do a marvelous job quietly. He has earned his respect,” Pinnick said glowingly of Amuneke. Africanfootball