Hiddink, van Gaal For Abuja Interview

By Ben Memuletiwon

Contrary to speculations that Dutch coaches Guus Hiddink and Louis Van Gaal have rejected Super Eagles offer, Chairman Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi has said that all the shortlisted coaches have agreed to come to Nigeria for final negotiation.

Chief Ogunjobi disclosed that the consultant to the NFF, Tunde Adelakun has contacted all the coaches and they will appear before the technical committee before the end of the month.

“No coach has rejected Eagles’ job,” Chief Ogunjobi said. “We are in close contact with all of them and they have agreed to appear personally for the interview here in Abuja. We have our deadline and we hope to get the job done as fast as possible.”

The snag however is the availability of Bayern Munich coach, Van Gaal in March because of his commitment to the Bundlesliga side who are strong contenders to the title as well as the German FA Cup. Bayern are also still in the UEFA Champions League race which may stop the Dutch coach from taking the Eagles job right off. According to an inside source at the Glass House, Van Gaal is pleading with the NFF that he would have loved to take up the job only if the NFF will allow him to resume work after the German FA final on May 22. But the FA is not ready to take such a gamble which means the coach will have less than one month to work with the Eagles before the commencement of the World Cup on June 11. The NFF said that they are not losing sleep over van Gaal, as he is never the choice of the board in the first place and so they were very hesitant to even include him on the short list.

Initially, NFF top chieftains were expected to drill the coaches in London, but it has now been agreed that they should fly into Abuja and see the country for themselves.

“We plan that their visit will be a big media event, where they will meet the press, talk with officials about the job. We will also take them round Abuja and afterwards host them to a dinner before their departure,” Ogunjobi said. 

The Ogunjobi-led technical committee has been mandated to recommend three of these coaches for immediate employment before the end of this month. One of the short listed coaches, Hassan Shehata of Egypt, has already disclosed that if he is given the job, he will come along with his assistants.

He said he will be interested in the job, but his availability is subject to the approval of his employers, the Egypt Football Association (EFA).