I Almost Rejected Eagles Coaching Job - Oliseh

New Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh has admitted his
job is made more difficult because there are not
many players of top quality available to him.
The former Super Eagles captain said he initially
had his doubts about taking up the offer of
managing the 2013 African champions because he
was not totally convinced by the depth of the
squad.
“To coach Nigeria is not the easiest job in the
world and one is only as good as the players,”
Oliseh told the FIFA website.
“Nigeria at the moment has a lot of potential, but
we don’t have a lot of confirmed players in the top
clubs in the top leagues, so taking over the
national team now means we have to remake the
whole team and introduce a new philosophy of
playing style, of culture and mentality. That is very
difficult to do when you are the national team
coach because you have very limited time with the
players unlike when you coach a club. So that is
why I was very hesitant.
“For some years now, there have been offers and
discussions about me taking over. It has been on
the table, but it has not yet happened because the
timing was off.”
The 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner however
added that he was encouraged by the backing of
Nigerian fans.
He added: “When I came into Nigeria to have talks,
I came out of the airport and I knew there was no
going back because all the way from the airport,
my countrymen where saying: ‘You have to take
the job, you have to take the job.’ So I did.”
The Super Eagles will face the winners of the first
round match between Djibouti and Swaziland for a
place in the group phase of the 2018 World Cup
qualifiers.
Oliseh is confident Nigeria will negotiate that round
successfully.
“It is going to be very, very difficult, but I believe
we can qualify. All we have to do is look at
ourselves, try to improve our game and hopefully
we will qualify,” he said, while insisting that his
lack of coaching experience will not affect his
team’s progress.
“I don’t think that is a drawback though. Time will
tell, but I took the job to be successful. But first
we have to qualify.
“Our ambition is to get the best to play for Nigeria,
and football is getting faster these days and it
keeps getting faster and faster. The tempo is
different now, and we can see in the first division of
most nations that is where the tempo is.”
The coach, who has signed a three-year contract
and will continue to live in Belgium but travel to
Nigeria as often as is necessary, confessed that he
was embarking on a difficult path. “We are
practically starting from scratch, so that is why I
am saying that people should not expect miracles
from us.”
However, he has not lost sight of his immediate
expectations as he gets set to lead the team out
for the first time in the AFCON qualifier against
Tanzania in September.
He adds in the FIFA.com article: “We all have
dreams, and I am hoping I will be as successful as
I can be. But one has to be realistic also. We have
just started, and our first step is to hopefully just
win against Tanzania. That is what I am praying
for. Game by game.”