Former Nigerian international, Ifeanyi Udeze, has expressed his disapproval of the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau.
News About Nigeria reports that Ifeanyi Udeze made disapproval for his indecisiveness regarding the future of Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro.
Udeze claims that Gusau is afraid to take a firm stand on the matter.
Gusau recently announced that the NFF would conduct an opinion poll among football fans to determine whether Peseiro should continue as the coach of the national team.
However, Udeze believes that it should be the responsibility of the Federation’s president to make the final decision, rather than leaving it in the hands of supporters.
The ex-Super Eagles defender said; “It’s not supposed to be like that for the NFF president to say fans should decide whether Jose Peseiro should stay or go because his contract will expire June 30.
“For me, the NFF president is afraid to take that decision, he’s afraid to take the decision whether the coach should stay or go, he should take a decision.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Portugal’s head coach, Roberto Martinez, has shed light on why he decided not to remove Cristiano Ronaldo from the country’s national team despite the player’s previous dispute with former coach Fernando Santos.
Martinez, who took over as Portugal’s manager after being sacked by Belgium following the 2022 World Cup, explained his rationale during an interview with talkSPORT.
Following Portugal’s defeat to Morocco in the knockout stage, Santos was dismissed, and Martinez was appointed as his successor.
Despite the strained relationship between Ronaldo and Santos, Martinez chose to retain Ronaldo as the team’s captain.
Speaking on Wednesday, Martinez said: “The initial point was, how do you make those decisions? At that point, I understand there are a lot of feelings at a World Cup with a national team.
“I was appointed on January 9th and had six weeks with the starting point of meeting every player who was in that list of 26 players in Qatar.
“For Cristiano, he wasn’t ready to step away, and then you can make a football decision. He scored four goals; he was a real leader, a captain, and someone who brings an experience that no other player has in world football, who needs to be used in your dressing room.”
