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Tag: Saintfiet

  • FIFA’s ranking doesn’t show Eagles’ quality – Saintfiet

    FIFA’s ranking doesn’t show Eagles’ quality – Saintfiet

    ProspectiVE Super Eagles Coach, Tom Saintfiet has described the current FIFA Ranking as subjective and not a true reflection of the potential of the quality of players and the Nigerian team.

    The latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday  saw Nigeria plummet nine spots to 17th position in Africa and 70th in the world.

    The Country’s ranking was obviously affected by the non participation in June’s Afcon qualifiers, after Chad’s withdrawal reduced to 3 the teams competing in Group G.

    Speaking with footballlive.ng , Saintfiet expressed optimism that the ranking would change once the Super Eagles get good results from a number of friendlies against good oppositions.

  • SUPER EAGLES JOB Le Guen, Saintfiet, Yusuf shortlisted

    SUPER EAGLES JOB Le Guen, Saintfiet, Yusuf shortlisted

    The Nigeria Football Federation has put former Ethiopian coach Tom Sainfiet, Super Eagles’ caretaker coach Salisu Yusuf and Frenchman Paul Le Guen, who once coached Cameroon, on a shortlist of candidates for the position of Super Eagles’ Head Coach.

    On Friday at the Glass House, the NFF Technical and Development Committee pored over more than 20 applications before cutting the list to three.

    Among those who showed interest in coaching the three –time African champions are Giovanni Solinas, Saintfiet, Hey Antoine, Mark Wotte, Yusuf, Ernesto Paulo Calvinho, Dorian Marin, Le Guen, Miodrag Jesic, Perry Hansen, Ove Pedersen, Adebayo Lateef Kola, Sylvanus Okpala, Peter Ijeh, Vladimir Petrovic-Pizon, Lodewijk de Kruif, Kenichi Yatsuhashi, Bjorn Frank Peters and Ricki Herbert.

    Belgian Saintfiet, 43, coached the National Teams of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen, Malawi and Togo, and also worked with the Qatar U-17 side, Young Africans FC of Tanzania and Free State Stars FC in South Africa.

    Yusuf, 54, was capped by Nigeria at U-20 level, won FA Cup titles with El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri as a player and coached top clubs Kano Pillars, El-Kanemi Warriors and Enyimba FC. He assisted Super Eagles’ chiefs Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi (of blessed memory), and was caretaker coach for two friendlies that the Eagles won against Mali and Luxembourg in Europe at the end of May.

    Le Guen, 52, played for Brest, Nantes and Paris Saint Germain and won 17 caps for France, before coaching Rennes, Lyon, PSG (in France) and Glasgow Rangers (in Scotland). He qualified the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals and also coached Oman.

    Chairman of the Technical and Development Committee, Chris Green, told thenff.com: “We set a criteria with which we evaluated the nearly two dozen applications and then agreed on the three persons that we shortlisted.

    “The Committee will meet on Monday, 18th July 2016 to interview the shortlisted candidates and immediately name the next Super Eagles’ Head Coach.”

  • Saintfiet warns Eagles: Beware of Ethiopia’s attacking style

    Saintfiet warns Eagles: Beware of Ethiopia’s attacking style

    With the first leg,last round world cup qualifier against Ethiopia now less than two weeks away, former Wayla Antelopes’ coach, Tom Saintfiet has given a tactical analysis of what to expect from the Ethiopians.

    In a chat with Brila FM, Saintfiet highlighted the fast counter-attacking play of Ethiopia, which he says could be difficult for the Nigerian defenders to cope with.

    “They have some good counter-attack strikers like Saladin Said who find it easy to score goals and so the Nigerian defence must be careful because sometimes they are weak at the back and so if Ethiopia can take advantage of that, then they will score goals.”

    Saintfiet was named coach of the Wayla Antelopes in late May of 2011 and within 10 days of his appointment gathered a largely home based players to draw Nigeria 2-2 in a 2012 AFCON qualifiers. Saintfiet voluntarily resigned his position as head coach on 28 October 2011.

    Nigeria and Ethiopia will vie for a place at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil when the clash in Addis Ababa on October 13 for the first leg.

  • Saintfiet blasts ref’s decisions

    Saintfiet blasts ref’s decisions

    Madagascar Referee, Hamada Nampiandraza came under scathing criticism from Malawi coach, Tom Saintfiet after his team lost 0-2 to Nigeria in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying game in Calabar on Saturday.

    Saintfiet watched from the dugout as his side finished the game with 10 men after Limbikani Mzava was dismissed for a second bookable offence after 53 minutes.

    The Belgian trainer was unhappy with a second half penalty awarded to Nigeria after Nampiandraza adjudged that Oduamadi had been fouled inside the Malawi box.

    “I have to see it again but I am 90 per cent sure that it’s not a penalty and most of the people in the stadium agreed with me that it is a very soft penalty. I don’t think it was a penalty and I think the Nigerian player (Oduamadi) dived and my defender did not touch him,” Saintfiet said to supersport.com after the game.

    Saintfiet, however, felt the referee did not do too much wrong in dismissing Mzava after he scythed down a goal-bound Musa in the Flames box.

    “For the penalty, I would have given a red card also. I think it was a tackle where any referee would issue a second yellow card. I spoke to my player (after the incident). He said he touched the ball first so if that’s correct, it’s not a yellow card. However, if I was the referee, I would have also given a red card,” he confessed.

    On his team’s performance against the African champions, Saintfiet praised his wards’ first half showing while regretting the goal they let in just before the break.

    “I think we played a very good first half according to plan. The Flames played good organised (football). We created some chances on the counter-attack but Nigeria had more possession.

    “My goalkeeper did not have a save to make inside the first 45 minutes and we only conceded 30 seconds into injury time and that was because my left winger made a mistake by failing to overlap.

    “The second half, it was very difficult for us. It was difficult for us to come back because we played against a very strong Super Eagles side who grew in confidence after leading 1-0.

    The win over Malawi cemented Nigeria’s position as winners of Group F with 12 points from six matches.

  • Beating Eagles is mission possible – Saintfiet

    Beating Eagles is mission possible – Saintfiet

    Tom Saintfiet has assured Malawians that its mission possible for Flames to up-set star studded Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the last World Cup qualifying game of Group F in Calabar.

    SportingLife gathered from the Belgian ,while speaking to the local press after he was unvieled by his new employers on Tuesday at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe, the Malawai capital informed he had come to Malawi with an agenda of making history in ensuring that Flames qualify for Barzil 2014 World Cup final for the first time by beating Nigeria away, which he described as ”mission possible”.

    “We’ll go to Nigeria to surprise them, surprise Africa and the whole World. They (Nigeria) are good but not unbeatable. Kenya almost beat them,” said Saintfeit.

    Saintfeit who watched Malawi’s lone goal loss in an international friendly match against Mozambique, which was part of the country’s 49th Independence Anniversary celebrations, hinted that: “Flames played well and Malawi can beat Nigeria. I have watched few games and I have noticed some quality.”

    Speaking further, the 40-year-old Belgian said: “I have been generally successful with the teams I have coached. But reasons beyond football and my control have frustrated my work In Africa, ” he said.

    On March 28 2012, Saintfiet was named Nigeria’s football technical director, but three months later the Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi cancelled his appointment because they didn’t want a foreigner for the job.

    The Belgian said, the termination of his contract by Nigeria is an extra motivation for him to see Flames boot Super Eagles out of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

    “Of course, I am still hurt, but I am professional. I don’t let emotions guide me, but surely I am more motivated. I believe Malawi has capacity to beat Nigeria. We just need a proper strategy,” said Saintfiet.