Saintfiet, Yusuf, Le Guen on NFF shortlist for Eagles’ job

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 U20 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.”

Out of the scrap heap of unfamiliar names, the name Paul Le guen stands out. I think Paul's style of play which is possession based and hardwork ethic will be a good match for the eagles. Its win or burst for him basically because failure with the Nigerian team would mean him retiring to seclusion because already he's almost a forgotten man in Europe.