Former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Director, Kashimawo Laloko, has queried the recent NFF’s appointment of Joseph Yobo as Super Eagles assistant coach, saying that there was no basis for his choice where there are better qualified former Internationals that could assist Coach Gernot Rohr.
The NFF had on Wednesday announced Yobo as assistant coach of the Super Eagles in place of Coach Imama Amapakabo, who failed to qualify the Eagles Team B and the U23 team to the football event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics slated for August in Japan.
In the release announcing his appointment without his profile as a licensed coach, the NFF had described Yobo as “a thoroughbred and dedicated professional who played his club football in five countries, including sterling appearances for Olympique Marseille in the French top flight, Fenerbahce in Turkey and Everton FC in the English Premiership.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Laloko stated that he paved the way for Yobo’s entry into the national team in 2000 when Bonfere Jo inquired from him how good he was after he received a call from Yobo.
“What is Yobo’s qualification? What qualified him as an assistant coach of the Super Eagles? I was the one who brought in Joseph Yobo to the Super Eagles in 2000. We were in Malaga, Spain, preparing for the Nations Cup and we were to play against the Catalan team. For the friendly, we were short of players and
Bonfere Jo said somebody called him and he said Yobo. I told him to bring him in.“I know he is always on the International TV station commenting on matches. So, is that what qualifies him to be assistant to Rohr? Supposing we even have a good coach from whom he can learn from, I would have agreed. But to have a very bad coach who doesn’t know the job and people are asking him to come and understudy Rohr is out of place,” he said, adding that in all the countries that Rohr had coached that there was nothing to show for it.
“I learnt Rohr coached in Gabon and others but what does he have to show in all the countries that he has coached before? Not even a bronze. The man doesn’t know the job and that is the truth.“That is why he is going everywhere to look for foreign players so that he doesn’t expose himself. He doesn’t watch our local leagues because most of the time he is in Europe.”
