'One of the best things to happen to Nigeria' - Eguavoen's lieutenant sings his praises

Interim assistant coach of the Super Eagles, Fidelis Ilechukwu, has hailed Austin Eguavoen after Nigeria defeated Benin in the opening game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Eguavoen was asked to take charge of the West African giants when the Nigeria Football Federation failed to get a substantive coach to replace Finidi George who resigned from his position after the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in June.

The NFF had planned on replacing George with Bruno Labbadia and had announced his appointment, but a U-turn was made when the Nigerian football governing body stated that they hadn't reached an agreement with the German tactician.

With imminent games to play against Benin and Rwanda, Eguavoen was asked to occupy the position temporarily and began his assignment with a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Cheetahs.

Speaking to 54footballx, Ilechukwu praised the NFF Technical Director for helping the Super Eagles get off to a flying start with a victory over Benin.

"We will make sure we support Austin Eguavoen because he is very open. He is a coach who carries everybody along," Ilechukwu said. 

"He is a coach we love the tactics, the technical approach and to me Eguavoen is one of the best things to happen to Nigeria now within that short period of time and we want to achieve with our little support."

Eguavoen's next assignment comes up on Tuesday when he will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories against Rwanda in the second matchday in Group D of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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