We Have the Quality to Change the Narrative by Winning the next AFCON

We Have the Quality to Change the Narrative by Winning the next AFCON - Finidi George

Reported by Anabel Enahoro

The head coach of the Super Eagles, Finidi George, cleared the air on popular questions regarding his new appointment and philosophy for the team during his media outing at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island Lagos.

Speaking on the roles and importance of his technical crew, Coach Finidi said he picked them himself because they are good at what they do. According to him

\\\"I picked the assistants, I know their capabilities, what they do and their club activity. They want to work with me and add value to the team.\\\"

He went further by speaking about his relationship with former head coach Jose Peseiro as fantastic. In his words Peseiro hoped for him to be the next man for the Super Eagles \\\"Our relationship is cordial and very good.\\\"

Speaking on getting foreign-born players into the team, coach Finidi said \\\"There are procedures involved in bringing a player in and we have people at the NFF that have been doing that and they will make it happen when we see a player we know can help. For a very long time, we\\\'ve not had players doing so well in Europe, we need all these players to come back home to perform for us.\\\"

Giving his take on the tactics, especially the set-piece prowess of the team, the Super Eagles head coach stated that decisions like that should be left to the coaching crew and the team to fix. \\\"We should leave that to the coaching crew. Football has evolved, you never know what to expect.

On the midfield situation and solution \\\"It has come to my notice that we have lots of midfielders outside but we must first see them perform in friendly games and bring them on board

On the involvement and his commitment to the inclusion of home-based players in the team \\\"I\\\'ve been around, I, until recently was a coach of Enyimba. I think there are lots of good players in the league but they\\\'ve not had opportunities to come to showcase what they have. I\\\'ll have time to go around and watch games to pick talents. They\\\'ll have their time like others. Friendly games will be the best time to have these home-based players join others from abroad to have these games\\\"

Speaking on his targets, he feels his target aligns with that of the NFF. \\\"My target is to win, to qualify for the World Cup and see how to win the next AFCON\\\"

Asked about his football philosophy, Coach Finidi said \\\"I like the attacking style but the ability to win the ball back through pressing like Manchester City is key. Players must understand when to win the ball back\\\"

According to Coach Finidi, \\\"The list of players will be out this week, the league is just rounding up and we have to see those that are 100 per cent. We\\\'ll have one or two new faces on the team. For players to have opportunities to come, there must be a FIFA window so we can invite these players to play in friendly games. But the majority of the players will be those from the last AFCON\\\"

Highlighting the importance of the captaincy and squashing the rumours about his decision, he said \\\"He\\\'s not in a position to choose the next Super Eagles captain as that is up to the team. There are things I cannot change. We are not stripping captaincy from Ekong, it is an agreement between players. I must make sure the team has a good frame of mind to perform.\\\"

Coach Finidi congratulated Ademola Lookman on his feat in scoring a hattrick at the Europa League final and also lifting the title, according to him \\\"Ademola is a player that we need, we love him and I\\\'m glad that they had that spectacular performance yesterday.\\\"

Finally on the World Cup qualifiers against South Africa on the 7th of June at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Akwa Ibom, \\\"We know it is a difficult game, we know their capacity, most of their players are playing in South Africa. With the form of players have, we will have the form for this game,\\\" he said.