Former Super Eagles captain Austin Eguavoen has made it clear that he had to step in to coach the national team for their upcoming friendly against Mexico in his capacity as the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation due to the unavailability of Gernot Rohr's assistant, Joseph Yobo.

Yobo asked to be left out of the trip to the United States of America, citing urgent family problems that needed his attention.

Answering his critics, whom he has labelled 'mischievous, Eguavoen said he could not say no to the Nigeria Football Federation when he was mandated to lead the team because he risked being fired or queried.

To drive home his point that he is not interested in coaching the Super Eagles on a permanent basis, the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner said that the substantive coach Rohr has been present in each of the training sessions since the start of the training camp in Abuja this week.

Speaking to reporters in Abuja including allnigeriasoccer.com, Eguavoen said : "When this opportunity came I know I engaged myself with Yobo on the phone like four days ago, for like forty-five minutes.

"I said Yobo there's a game coming up against Mexico so when are you coming and Yobo told me he wasn't really aware but later he told me about the game and said honestly speaking maybe he will come.

"I said what is the maybe and said because he has got family things to deal with and I went to the GS to ask him if Yobo is on this trip or not  because he's supposed to step in if Gernot Rohr is not going .

"GS said yes Yobo is in the plan, he'll go hopefully if he comes back but I told him Yobo told me that he's having some family things to deal with so let's leave it like that hopefully he'll come through. "

Yobo was conspicuously missing earlier this month when the Super Eagles tackled Cameroon in two friendlies staged in Austria.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel