Ex-South Africa international and former Bafana Bafana coach, Pitso Mosimane, says that he would consider an offer from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to take over as Super Eagles Head Coach.
Mosimane revealed he doesn’t mind taking an offer from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to become the head coach of the Super Eagles after parting ways with Al Wahda in early November.
Mosimane’s extensive coaching career, aside from Bafana Bafana, includes stints with various notable clubs, namely; SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns, Al Ahly, Al Ahli, and Al Wahda.
Mosimane, 59, first handled Bafana Bafana as a Caretaker Coach in 2007 before serving as Assistant Coach under Brazilian coaches, Carlos Alberto Parreira and Joel Santana. He later called the shots as the Head Coach from July 2010 to June 5, 2012, but lost the job after he failed to qualify South Africa for the 2012 AFCON co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
According to a report by KickOff, Mosimane expressed his interest in the Super Eagles job while acknowledging the talented Nigerian squad, citing players like Samuel Chukwueze and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. He emphasised the need for more than just talent, highlighting the coach’s role in instilling confidence, stability, leadership, a winning mentality, and teamwork within the team.
“They have a lot of talent; the likes of Samuel Chukwueze, the Napoli striker Victor Osimhen. But talent alone is not enough because if it was only about talent, they would have beaten Lesotho 7-0, but they drew with them. And pound for pound they would have also beaten Zimbabwe,” KickOff quoted Mosimane as saying.
“So, the job of the coach is to bring confidence, stability, leadership, winning mentality and teamwork within the group.
“The Nigeria job is one I would consider, but it would also depend on whether they want the team to be led by an African. Because the only African coach they had was Stephen Keshi.
“That is also a challenge because there have been a lot of white people on the job; whether we believe in our African coaches like Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, and Egypt remains to be seen.”
Mosimane added: “I envy all those African coaches who were entrusted with the job and maybe take the level higher. But I don’t want to talk too much about the Nigerian job links because there is still a coach there and it’s important that I
respect that.”
Peseiro, 63, accepted a pay cut and signed a new six-month contract with the Nigeria Football Federation in September 2023 which will elapse at the end of February 2024, after the Super Eagles’ campaign at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Portuguese claimed that he accepted the pay cut and signed his new short-term contract because he believed he could win Nigeria’s fourth AFCON title at Cote d’Ivoire 2023 with the current crop of players.
The Super Eagles will start the AFCON 2023 campaign with their first Group A match against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, January 14, 2024. They will face host nation, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday, January 18, before playing Guinea-Bissau on matchday 3 on Monday, January 22.
