Veteran coach Chief Adegboye Onigbinde believes Nigeria’s biggest football problem isn’t a shortage of talent, but a failure to properly identify and develop it. He says the absence of a creative midfielder in the mold of Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha remains the clearest evidence of that gap.
Softfootball understands Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, who coached Nigeria to the 2002 World Cup with Jay Jay Okocha in his squad, addressed the issue following the Super Eagles’ loss to Rwanda.
He said:
I have always maintained that Nigeria’s major problem is not technical but administrative.
We have technically gifted players, but we are neither identifying nor developing them. There are thousands of potential Okochas out there who can solve the Super Eagles’ creative midfield problem if coaches expand their search.
Okocha earned 73 caps between 1993 and 2006, winning the 1994 AFCON and Olympic gold in 1996, and no player has since matched his blend of flair and creativity in Nigeria’s midfield.
