Oliseh takes rein of Nigerian national soccer team
Xinhua, July 15, 2015 Adjust font size:
Sunday Oliseh took over as new coach of Nigeria's national soccer team on Wednesday, after signing a three-year deal with the football authorities in the country.
Officials of the Nigerian football governing body said Oliseh's contract would have an option of one year renewal if he performed creditably in the initial three-year assignment.
The post was vacant after former coach Stephen Keshi was sacked two weeks ago for alleged misconduct.
President of the Nigerian Football Federation Amaju Pinnick said coach Oliseh was choice of the West African country because he was considered to be technologically advanced and his passion for the game of football was beyond punditry.
The football official said Oliseh's dynamism and membership of the FIFA technical study group also gave him an upper hand in taking over the vacant job of head coach of the Super Eagles, more than 13 years after the ex-player quit international football.
"Talking to Oliseh last week in London, I thought I was talking to Arsene Wenger or Pep Guardiola. We shall give him our 100 per cent support," Pinnick said while presenting the new coach to the media.
The football federation said it has given the new coach a target to qualify the nation for next year's continental tourney and reach the semi-final in the competition, as well as qualifying Nigeria for the next world cup and reach the quarter-finals in the competition.
Saying it was a great honor to be appointed coach of his country's senior football team, Oliseh promised to bring new innovations to the football playing pattern in Africa's most populous country.
"First of all, I am not coming as Messiah. I am coming as a coach who is ready to serve his country. I will give more than 150 per cent of my performance," he said after signing the dotted lines with officials of the football federation in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
According to him, gone were the days Nigeria had individual players who it depended on to win matches out of their own individual efforts.
"We now have a standard for players to play in the Super Eagles," he added.
Oliseh's first outing as coach of the Super Eagles would be an away match against Tanzania on Sept. 14. The match might be a litmus test for Oliseh, according to local football analysts.
Oliseh started his professional career as a defensive midfielder with Julius Berger FC of Lagos between1989 and 1990.
The 40-year-old midfield player and former Super Eagles skipper also played for AFC Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus FC. He scored two goals during his 54 international caps for the Eagles, with 321 appearances for his various clubs.
Oliseh is mainly remembered for scoring the winning goal against Spain in the France 1998 at the group stage, a footage that was extensively used by many television stations then.
He participated in two World Cups, USA 1994 and France 1998. Oliseh was a member of the Olympic Games gold medal winning team in the soccer event of Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.
In January 2006, Oliseh retired from professional football at the age of 31. Endi