Nigeria may be close to appointing interim manager Salisu Yusuf on a permanent basis.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) vice president, Seyi Akinwunmi, says that everyone at board level are pleased with the way the team has performed under the regime ofYusuf. Hence, they are now considering making him as the new Nigeria national team coach. The team competed in friendly games against Mali and Luxembourg under the regime ofYusuf. In both these games, the team performed exceptionally well and managed to concede only one goal.

This was a far cry from the recent form, which saw the team go without a win in the last for competitive matches. One had to go all the way back to January’s African Nations Championship game to witness the last time Nigeria won a game. Even though the results against teams like Luxembourg and Mali cannot be taken as the standard of a manager, it seems clear that the players do not show any signs of discontent while playing underYusuf. Further,Yusuf already has a very successful squad under his belt and he knows the players very well too. Hence, the national team seems to have decided not to change managers at this time.

Nigeria are preparing for the qualifying games against Tanzania and Chad.“Salisu Yusuf is sure of getting the (Eagles) job ahead of any other person. He is good coach and has a bright future with the Super Eagles.He is a level-headed coach and he is the kind of coach who could lead the Super Eagles to success in the nearest future,” said the Nigerian Football Association’s vice president. Only recently, Nigeria lost one of the prestigious coaches in the form of Stephen Keshi. The former Nigerian coach recently lost his life due to a heart attack.