Embattled Finidi George has opened up on the turmoil he faced in his first few weeks in charge of the Super Eagles.
He said he has not received much support from his employers the NFF and he did not hesitate to fault the commitment of the players to the cause of the national team.
This he did when he along with NFF chieftains met with Sports Minister John Enoh in Abuja to review Super Eagles’ tottering 2026 World Cup campaign after they held South Africa to a 1-1 draw in Uyo before they were shocked by lowly Benin 2-1 in Abidjan.
A source told SCORENigeria that Finidi used the poster boy of Nigeria football Victor Osimhen to drive home his point that the country’s top stars are not fully committed to the Super Eagles.
Osimhen was not available for the two all-important World Cup qualifiers with an official explanation that he was injured and sidelined for four weeks.
“Finidi said the Napoli striker could still have managed to play these matches,” SCORENigeria was told.
“The coach will go on to say that it appears that Osimhen chooses the games he plays for Nigeria and he cannot beg him to play for his country.”
The former Enyimba coach also bemoaned the complete breakdown of discipline in the team and was totally disappointed with how the players strolled into training camp for the crucial World Cup qualifiers.
He said many of these players have the backing of some powerful NFF Board members and that it became increasingly difficult to sanction them because he would often be warned that a player “belonged” to a certain “big man”.
