Former Super Eagles forward, Yakubu Aiyegbeni has called on Nigerians to support the current men’s senior national team coach, Finidi George to succeed in his new role despite the misgivings and poor start in their 2026 world cup qualifying matches.
Aiyegbeni made this appeal during a recent interview with a foreign online website, www.RG.org.
According to the big “Yak” who featured for English sides, Portsmouth, Leicester and Middlesbrough during his playing days, coaching Nigeria is no walk in the park but Finidi will need plenty of luck to succeed.
But he however said he’s happy his former teammate whom he referred to as a ‘Proper Eagle’ got the job, while also asking Nigerians to pray he succeeds.
The former Maccabi Haifi of Israel striker said Nigerians will see the Real Super Eagles.
“Listen, it’s not easy coaching the Nigerian National Team, and that is the first thing you must know. I like George because he was an unbelievable player.
“When I came to play with him, he and the likes of Jay-Jay (Okocha) were my seniors, but they were unbelievable. Great guys and proper Super Eagles, as we used to call them.”
“So being a Nigerian, I’m happy he got the role. He has other coaching roles on the side, so it tells you he’s into football.
“I saw their game against South Africa, and I thought they were a bit unlucky, but he’s a great guy, and I want to send him my best wishes and hope he succeeds because if he does well, we will see the real Super Eagles. Let’s pray for him to succeed”, he concluded.
Finidi has since played two matches as the substantive head coach of the team, drawing 1-1 against South Africa and losing to Benin Republic 2-1 on Monday evening in Cote d’ivoire to leave the Eagles in a rather precarious 5th position on the log in their 2026 FIFA world cup qualifying campaign after four matches.
The Eagles you would recall drew two previous fixtures under former Portuguese coach, Jose Peseiro against Lesotho 1-1 and against Zimbabwe by the same scoreline 1-1 before Finidi took over.
Aiyegbeni played 58 times for Nigeria, scoring 21 goals.