Super Eagles coach Emmanuel Amuneke in an interview with Nigeria Info FM Abuja’s Bunmi Haruna, here reflected on the Super Eagles failure to qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup after being edged out by Ghana Black Stars even as he predicted a bright future for the national team. Excerpts…
What really happened how come we got a draw in the first leg and could not do the job in Abuja ?
First of all, thank you but let me start apologising to Nigerians. Nigeria deserves the best but at the same time, we have to see how we can move forward and bring joy to our people . I was privileged to serve this country as a player , I was privileged to come as a coach, I was to privileged to come back to support coach Austin Eguavoen to see how we can move forward but unfortunately things happen but we have to see how we can forge ahead .
Coach there are a lot of talks about the role you played in in selecting the players and other things, what role did you play exactly in that team?
You are asking a sensitive questions and a lot of things has been going on but I don’t want to put my colleagues in a difficult position. The reality still remains we tried to present a team and it will be very bad on my part to shy away from responsibility ; I have to assume responsibilities but unfortunately things did not work out the way we expected. I believed there is a better tomorrow. No matter how we talked about the league or about the team , it won’t change the situation now. Personally, I am saying sorry to Nigerians.
I would like to know the reasons for some of the substitutions that were made in that game both for the first leg and the second leg especially in the second leg , why was Onyeka pulled out, why was Oghenekaro Etebo was pulled out at some point in the game in Abuja?
Well, Onyeka was pulled out because I think in the first 10 mins of the game because he had a collision with Ghanaian players. He was basically injured and since he was leaping, he couldn’t be in the position to continue the game .
Etebo was also pulled out looking how the game was going and also looking on how he was playing; but of course the two players you mentioned gave their very best and Etebo , we all know is a very strong player , strong mentality but unfortunately that day , we felt it was necessary to bring new players that are fresh , who can boost the offensive part of the team .
I plead with Nigerians and I hope in their hearts they will forgive people so that we can move forward.
Do you have any regrets for joining the Super Eagles for the play-off match against Ghana ?
I have no regrets. I could have also turned down not to come but I have no regrets.
When Nigerians demanded , I have to come and you also know my position as an assistant. I can’t go beyond Eguavoen in terms of decision making.
But I have no regrets and I will never have any regrets if I have regrets. I thank Nigerians for giving me the opportunity , for believing in me that I can turn things around and I hope one day I will be in a position to do that , that is the only thing I can say. So, there are no regrets coming to serve Nigeria.
Should Nigeria bring in a foreign coach or you still think a local coach is still capable of taking Nigeria to the promise land ?
It will be inappropriate for me to be saying those things , I think the federation knows what is good and they have to do what is good for our football. If they decide to use Nigerian coaches and build a team , it is an acceptable thing; and if we also decide to go with foreign coach it is also acceptable .
I’m not in a position to say this is good ,let the will of Nigerians prevail and that is why we have to respect their opinion , let them speak , let them say what is good for them and at the end if everything goes well and that’s what we want why not , it is a welcome development .I have always believed we must develop our people. Every country is developing their people but we can’t run away from developing or giving opportunities despite what has happened .