Nigeria vs Ghana
Both the Super Eagles and the Black Stars, who are going to lock horns for an International Friendly, were without head coaches just a few days ago and really took their sweet time in appointing their next man at the helm for their upcoming friendlies during the international break.
Ghana didn’t play to their usual standards during the AFCON 2023—at least this SBOTOP writer thinks so—and decided to sack Chris Hughton shortly after. The Ghana Football Association decided to stick to what is known and proven, so they welcomed back their former head coach, Otto Addo, with open arms.
Meanwhile, it’s the start of a new and fresh chapter for the Super Eagles, as they decided to sign an ex-international, Finidi George, to be the interim head coach for Nigeria during their upcoming international friendlies.
Talking Points
The Super Eagles appoint Finidi George as interim head coach
The Portuguese tactician, Jode Paseiro, quit as Super Eagles head coach earlier this month. “Yesterday, we concluded our contract with the NFF,” Paseiro, 63, stated. “It was a pride and honour to coach the Super Eagles. It has been 22 months of immense dedication, sacrifice, emotion, and enormous enthusiasm. We feel a sense of fulfilment.”
Paseiro was the man at the helm for the Super Eagles for 22 games, winning 11, losing seven, and drawing four. He also led the promising Nigerian outfit to one of the most inspiring runs in the AFCON 2023, where they went undefeated and blazed their way to the cup final, only to fall short to Ivory Coast.
The position Paseiro walked away from stayed vacant for quite some time, but in recent International Friendly 2024 news, after their fruitful yet heartbreaking AFCON campaign, the Super Eagles have decided to name Nigerian football legend Finidi George as their interim head coach for their matches against Ghana and Mali in this upcoming international break.
Expectations are high for Finidi and the rest of the Super Eagles after their final appearance in the recent AFCON. This could mean more than just friendlies for the newly appointed interim head coach. The ex-international is under the magnifying glass as he leads one of the best outfits in Africa against the promising Black Stars and the Eagles.
Otto Addo returns as Black Stars head coach
Like Nigeria, the Black Stars also opted to proceed on a different route and hire a new head coach to lead Ghana in their upcoming international friendlies against the Super Eagles and the Cranes.
Former head coach Chris Hughton got the boot after a disappointing campaign in the recent AFCON, where the Black Stars faced an early exit in the group stages. This time, the Ghana national team opted to go back to the tactician who led them to the recent World Cup.
The Black Stars have selected a familiar face to lead the inspired outfit as their former head coach, Otto Addo, returns as their man at the helm. Addo, 47, returns to the Black Stars a little over a year after leading the outfit to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Ghana Football Association announced that the returning Addo will take over the Black Stars with a contract that would see the 47-year-old as the head coach of the Black Stars for 34 months, with the option to extend for a further two years.
Addo will be released from his talent coach duties at Dortmund to take charge of the Black Stars during the international break before returning to Germany. But Addo will then leave Dortmund permanently in May to begin his renewed role with the Black Stars.
“Otto was exceptional and was rated highly by the search committee, hence the decision,” GFA president Simeon-Okraku exclaimed.
“There were some brilliant individuals among the coaches who applied for the job, so the committee took the pain to interview a chunk of them to pick their thoughts.”
History
These rival outfits have faced each other quite a lot in recent times. Since 2006, Nigeria and Ghana have clashed for a total of 13 times, and in those matches, Ghana have bossed the head-to-head with five wins, while Nigeria have won just three but were able to tally five draws.
In their most recent outing, it was the Super Eagles who came out as the victors, thanks to a 2-0 clean sheet victory over Ghana in the CAF African Nations Championship.
In recent form, Nigeria have been a strong outfit as of late, thanks to their deep and impressive run in the AFCON 2023, where they reached the finals with an unbeaten record but fell short against Ivory Coast in the final.
Meanwhile, it’s been the complete opposite for the Black Stars. The four-time African Champions have been without a win in their last five outings, which included a winless campaign in the recent AFCON. Addo back to lead the proud outfit, they could start trending back in the right direction, but for now, expect the Black Stars to be the International Friendly 2024 betting odds underdogs during their upcoming clash against the soaring Super Eagles.
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