The interim head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen is in agreement with the belief of French coach Herve Renard on the chances of the Super Eagles making it to the 2026 World Cup, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria are currently 5th in their group for the qualifiers, which will resume in March when they will take on leaders Rwanda who are four points clear and recently defeated Super Eagles at home in a dead rubber AFCON qualifiers game 2-1.
Celebrated French coach Renard who won the AFCON with Zambia and Cote d’ Ivoire respectively was the anointed choice to take over as the substantive coach of the Nigerian team, before Eguavoen was handed the reign in interim capacity.
Renard confirmed the offer from Nigeria was the best he had before returning to his previous role as coach of Saudi Arabia, he however said he rejected it due to the fact that he wants a more realistic project with a team that still stand a chance of making it to the next world cup, which is his aim.
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“I almost went to Nigeria. I weighed the pros and cons for a few days, even weeks, before eventually turning it down. It was the best offer I’ve had so far, but it didn’t suit me in the end due to the fact that I want a realistic project with the next world cup in mind,” Renard told French outlet L’Équipe in September.
Responding to doubts by the coach , Eguavoen who led the team in interim capacity all through the qualifiers for the AFCON disagreed with the Frenchman insisting that the team can still make it to the tournament.
“It has to be with positive thinking (for Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup),” Eguavoen told Brila FM.
“We have to approach every game like a cup final and we have a big chance once we keep winning these remaining games even if it were by 1-0.”
