Peseiro…. going, going, gone

When the story of Nigeria’s national football team, the Super Eagles, through history will be told, it will never be complete without the mention of a certain Jose Paseiro.

Without doubt, he will be listed amongst the national coaches that took the Super Eagles to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, did not clinch it, yet he was rewarded more than any other coach in the history of Nigerian football.

Jose Peseiro is a 64-year old Portuguese coach recommended by the renowned Portuguese coach, Jose Mourinho, to the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, on the eve of completing his tenure. His link to Mourinho, was his biggest credential. He did not have any known pedigree in football to deserve to be engaged by one of the biggest teams in Africa, one with the enviable reputation of the Super Eagles.

Peseiro got the job offered to him on the platter of wood. It was so cheap, he started work on a verbal contract. It was so ‘cheap’ that when his monthly wage was slashed half-way into his two-year contract, he accepted and held on to the job that many consider a holiday since he was working from his base in Europe most of the time.

Paseiro did not disappoint those who questioned his credentials and why he was hired. For the period of almost two years that he spent as coach of the national team he hardly won any international matches, could not produce a good consistent team, did not impact domestic football in any way, stuck stubbornly to a goalkeeper that the entire country saw as not the best, and did not produce a single, exceptionally-gifted player.

He took Nigerians through a frustrating period that left them without a shred of hope going to AFCON 2023 at the start of the year. That was his