Is Finidi Right to Expect Outright Victories in World Cup Qualifiers?

The serendipitously selected Super Eagles Head Coach called next month's world cup qualifiers against Benin and South Africa must-wins and said he believes he can orchestrate the wins.

“These are must-win games for us to be comfortable in our group. I believe we will win both games,” the former Enyimba head coach said during his media tour on Thursday.

The question would have been how? What makes him believe he can win? What has he put in place and what will he do differently?

Belief has to be backed up by background works but, unless Finidi is keeping his cards close to his trademark beards, there is no basis for this belief.

He is untested at this level and a high number of his backroom staff are virgins in national team football at this level. He will most likely call up the bulk of players utilised by his predecessors and, to make matters worse, will likely call untested homebase players to satisfy the yearnings of a section of his paymasters.

So, conventional wisdom will suggest caution going into these encounters.

I wish Finidi and the team well. If indeed he and his team achieve success in these encounters, I will regard these as major upsets based on the calibre of coaches he will be up against !

Good luck to Finidi and his team. May the Nigeria fire-brigade-approach-to-success spirit prevail!