Oliseh dreams success with Super Eagles
The senior national team handler says that he desperately wants to succeed as Eagles gaffer, while asking Nigerians not to expect miracle from him
By Shina Oludare
The 40-year-old was appointed as replacement for Stephen Keshi sees his new task as a challenging one, but says he wants nothing more than for Super Eagles to thrive under him.
"For some years now, there have been offers and discussions about me taking over. It has been on the table, but it has not yet happened because the timing was off,” Oliseh told Fifa.com.
"To coach Nigeria is not the easiest job in the world and one is only as good as the players. Nigeria at the moment has a lot of potential, but we don't have a lot of confirmed players in the top clubs in the top leagues, so taking over the national team now means we have to remake the whole team and introduce a new philosophy of playing style, of culture and mentality.
"That is very difficult to do when you are the national team coach because you have very limited time with the players unlike when you coach a club. So that is why I was very hesitant.
"When I came into Nigeria to have talks, I came out of the airport and I knew there was no going back because all the way from the airport, my countrymen where saying: 'You have to take the job, you have to take the job.' So I did.”
Nigeria will face the winners of the first round match between Djibouti and Swaziland for a place in the group phase and Oliseh says he is confident they will take the first hurdle but that the road to Russia will be tough, while hoping to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
"It is going to be very, very difficult, but I believe we can qualify. All we have to do is look at ourselves, try to improve our game and hopefully we will qualify,” he continued.
"Our ambition is to get the best to play for Nigeria, and football is getting faster these days and it keeps getting faster and faster. The tempo is different now, and we can see in the first division of most nations that is where the tempo is.
"We are practically starting from scratch, so that is why I am saying that people should not expect miracles from us.
"We all have dreams, and I am hoping I will be as successful as I can be. But one has to be realistic also. We have just started, and our first step is to hopefully just win the [AFCON qualifier] against Tanzania. That is what I am praying for. Game by game,” he continued.
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