Nigeria’s Super Eagles are ready for the 2022 World Cup—but clarity required prior to progress

The old adage dictates that one’s failure to prepare is to prepare for failure, and after a disappointing exit from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria are back at the drawing board.

Uncertainty surrounds a team that hired Jose Peseiro as its head coach yet impressed at the AFCON with Augustine Eguavoen in the helm as interim manager.

It was under Eguavoen’s command, after all, that the team clinched three win from three during the group stage in Cameroon—the only team to do so—prior to falling 1-0 against Tunisia.

Ideally after a major international tournament, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would have time on its hands to digest the fallout before making any long-lasting decisions.

The reality, however, is far harsher.

The Super Eagles have fewer than two months until they meet Ghana in a two-legged play-off to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a winner-takes-all showdown of mighty proportions.

The Guardian understands there is yet to be any concrete movement in regards to whom will lead the team moving forward after Peserio was noticeably absent in Cameroon, while the opposite could be said of Eguavoen:

https://twitter.com/NGSuperEagles/status/1488087846871347202

In his third spell as the national team boss, the 56-year-old will have won over a new legion of fans for Nigeria’s fearless approach, with plenty of promise until they were toppled by the Tunisians.

Peseiro was only hired to replace the departed Gernot Rohr at the end of December, and yet Nigeria—who can be found at odds as high as 400/1 to win the World Cup—may have inadvertently stumbled upon a superior solution.

“What happens next is that I’m the interim coach and technical director of the NFF. I will go back to my position and allow the