Growing up in Festac I had a friend, Golden Polobo – a Port Harcourt boy – who we used to play and talk football a lot. One day he started telling me about this player who was his senior in secondary school in PH then. “Oh boy, the guy was so good that the school used to find excuses to postpone our principal cup matches if he was not available. He dey play Sharks that time but later go join Calabar Rovers.” Polobo narrates.
Who was this player? “George Finidi”, whispered Polobo in awe, shaking his head again at the memories he was recalling. To be fair, at the time I had read bits about Finidi playing at Rovers alongside John Ene Okon and led by Friday Ekpo.
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Fast forward July 1991 and I was at National Stadium Lagos for our last AFCON ’92 qualifier vs Burkina Faso. This was a match made famous by the players having to play with tracksuits bottoms cut off because the match kits did not arrive the stadium from their camp in Otta, Ogun State.
At 3-1 up in the second half, Augustine Eguavoen cried off injured in the far corner away to our left but on the right of the Eagles attacking side. On came this long legged kid, Finidi George.
With Ekpo prompting deep in midfield and Burkinabe defenders having no idea of staying in line, Finidi went on to create four goals while having enough time to lash one home for himself in a 7-1 win. A star was born.
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Two years later as Nigeria chased a first FIFA World Cup appearance, his goal in Algeria gave Nigeria the lead and ensured the Super Eagles got the point needed to make it to the US ’94 FIFA World Cup.
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It was after Nigeria won the 2013 AFCON in South Africa that my brother Simon Kolawole, the Publisher of TheCable reminded me (and informed the world via his column in ThisDay Newspapers then) that I had told him while we were in UNILAG that Stephen Keshi was the best placed Nigerian to lead the Super Eagles to success. I had said that to him back in 1991.
My reasoning at the time (which is true to this day) is that Keshi was such a successful footballer and a trailblazer to European clubs that he would not be intimidated by the job and whatever comes with it. But more important, he would not be intimidated by whatever any foreign based Nigerian footballer brings because he had been there, seen it and done it all.
Along with Clemens Westerhof, Keshi is still our most successful Super Eagles coach.
On Monday the 13th of May 2024, that young man from 1991 has been confirmed as the coach of the national team he played so very well for.
Since the announcement a week prior, as is typical with Nigerians, there have been many who have cast doubts as to his ability to do the job successfully. Most of these critics are against his appointment because he is a Nigerian. They find the idea of a Nigerian managing the Super Eagles disturbing, like only a foreigner should be considered good enough for the job.
I have never known a people so undeserving of a successful national team like Nigerians who claim to support the Super Eagles. Their default mode is to fault any and everything. Criticise the selections. Criticise the coaches ESPECIALLY when it is a Nigerian. For them, the Nigerian will be corrupt – nobody projects like Nigerians, trust me!
Finidi has played at the highest level. Finidi has been coached by the highest calibre of coaches – Louis van Gaal was his first coach in Europe as they won the UEFA Champions League in 1995, he worked for and later with Luis Aragones – Spain’s first European Championship winning coach of 2008.
He considers the Spaniard the best coach he has ever had. “Aragones was my best. Not only was he so good tactically but his man management was wonderful,” Finidi said to me in an interview back in 2013. “He showed so much care to squad players than even first team players. Always made them feel special.”
Finidi has all the coaching qualifications needed to even manage in LaLiga, Premier League and the likes so he can’t be faulted on that side.
What stands out for me is the man’s mindset. To leave Spain where he could have bummed around with youth team jobs and return to Nigeria and take the Enyimba of Aba job shows a man willing to put in the work. That determination will be needed for this Super Eagles job.
On a more serious note, Finidi’s biggest problems in this job would be with his employers. Keshi and Sunday Oliseh, the last two substantive Nigerian coaches of the team had issues with the Nigeria Football Federation.
Keshi in a deeply emotional interview with me in Brasilia, after the defeat to France at the 2014 World Cup outlined the lack of facilities needed to do the job.
I was with Oliseh and his assistant at the time as they bought training cones from a sports shop in London. These things matter. These thing are important.
The NFF decided to employ Finidi. They must now be ready to back their choice and decision. They must give him the free hand to do his job. They must not hinder him in any way, shape or form. They can not dictate to him who he would choose. They must not brief the press behind his back anonymously.
The NFF showing the coach support ensures that the players respect him which will make the job a little bit easier. Giving him this job is not a favour to the former international. It is an acceptance that he deserves it.
In the race to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, Finidi starts at a disadvantage because of two draws. Bafana Bafana (Super Eagles next opponents in June) are second behind leaders Rwanda with 3 points.
I have never judged a national team coach by quality of play during qualifiers – time to blend is too short. Just qualify for tournament and then take it from there.
Finidi and his Super Eagles have EIGHT matches left to ensure they are in another North America based FIFA World Cup. Ample games left, I believe, to correct the damage of Peseiro at the start.
Just like Keshi, Finidi has been there and done it all as a player. The stage is set for him to equal or better the Big Boss as a coach.
Finidi during his active years was only bettered on the right wing in pinpoint balls for his strikers by Beckham. He really was awesome and if he can repeat half of this as a coach we will be in La la land.