Former Super Eagles defender and coach, Austin Eguavoen, is relishing his new task as manager of ambitious second division side and Lagos FA Cup champions COD United, reports 'TANA AIYEJINA
When Austin Eguavoen alighted from his chauffeur-driven jeep on Monday at the Campos Stadium, Lagos, he cut the figure of a man on a mission.
As he entered the AstroTurf pitch, where his new club, COD United of Lagos — a club in the Nigerian National League — were training, he was set to work immediately.
"Hey Kabiru (Alausa) run forward; Ikedi (Nwakanma) cover up," he bellowed, as he began training with the club on that wet Monday morning, after heavy rainfall in Lagos.
Eguavoen, who has coached Nigeria at U-17, U-20, U-23 and senior national team levels, looked at home in his new assignment.
COD, a highly ambitious side, cashed in on the contractual hitch between Eguavoen and Port Harcourt side, Sharks, to snatch the Edo-born ex-Nigeria defender.
Expectedly his new job as coach of the Lagos FA Cup champions shocked the football populace because of his rich pedigree as a coach.
He began coaching in Malta, where he guided Sliema Wanderers, his last club as player, to the second position in the top division of the European island country in 2001.
Thereafter, he coached the Golden Eaglets, which paraded the likes of Ambrose Vanzekin, Isaac Promise, Mikel Obi, Chinedu Obasi, Solomon Okoronkwo and Kola Anubi at the 2003 U-17 World Cup in Finland.
He was given the Super Eagles coaching job in 2005, taking over from the fired Christian Chukwu, who failed to guide the team to a fourth consecutive appearance at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
And Eguavoen, only 40 then, steered the Eagles to a third-place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, a year later.
After a short stint at South African club, Black Leopards, in 2008, Eguavoen was hired by Enyimba and although he stayed just a season there, he led the club to win the Federation Cup and to also finish third in the domestic league in the 2008/09 season.
He managed the Eagles again- though for a very short period- after the exit of Swede Lars Lagerbäck after the 2012 World Cup in South Africa. He was appointed the U-23 coach by the Nigerian Football Federation same year.
Following his failure to secure a ticket to the football event of the London 2012 Olympic Games with the team, Eguavoen resigned after apologising to Nigerians.
But after a botched move to Sharks, Eguavoen says he is in Lagos to prove a point in his latest assignment. "I'm in COD because football has placed me where I am today. It's like giving back to the game," Eguavoen said.
"I'm surprised that people are reacting like this. It's funny because the mentality of an average Nigerian is strange. Sven-Goran Eriksson was England coach at a time but he went on to coach Leicester City in the English Championship, which is their second division.
"But doing the same thing in this part of the world is a little bit strange. I love football and I have passion for the game. All of us cannot coach the national team at the same time.
"I don't think there is anything wrong in coming here as far as I am concerned. Not all the Premier League teams have the structure COD has.
"I understand people feel the club is too low for me but wherever you find yourself, you must give thanks to God. I am not complaining," the former K.V. Kortrijk of Belgium defender said.
Lagos fans received Eguavoen's appointment with delight. Many wanted to catch a glimpse of the man, who once held them spell-bound with his impressive defensive abilities, while playing for the defunct Lagos club, ACB, in the mid 1980s.
He added, "My welcome reception was overwhelming. When I appeared in Onikan for the first time on Saturday, the ovation was loud and I loved it. I played for ACB I have always been a Lagos person. My wife is from here and she is a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as well, so I am already married to the Redeemed family.
"For the fact that nobody mentioned any negative thing about me means they all welcomed me. I am here to work and make sure we get promoted."
He was appointed shortly before the club emerged Lagos FA Cup champions after a grueling final game against arch-rivals MFM that was decided through the lottery of penalty kicks. However, Eguavoen refuses to claim credit for the victory.
"Thank God we just won the FA Cup but I won't take credit for what I didn't do. But for the fact that I came in two weeks before they won the FA Cup, I am also part of it. I won the FA Cup as a player with ACB. I thank coach Solomon Manasseh for doing a great job before I took over," Eguavoen said.
Now that he is fully in charge, we wants to pay back the club and the fans with a ticket to the Nigerian Premier League.
"We are third in the NNL, B Group. The target is to get promoted; I like challenges; the boys are up to it and we are going to keep working till the final day of the season. Our main target is promotion. We will see what happens eventually."
Eguavoen debunked insinuations that COD enticed him with a huge financial package, insisting that he joined the team for football reasons.
He said, "Coming here is not about money. I knew how many millions I left at Sharks. If it was the money, I would have endured whatever came up at Sharks and at the end of the season, I would go home with a lot of millions.
"But it's not about money, it's about giving back to the game. COD is an ambitious team. They called me before now but because I had already signed for Enyimba, I wasn't available. When they came for me a second time, I had a rethink because it's a church team, which means God wants me to come here.
"There are lots of coaches out of job for years but God gave me a new job within three weeks of quitting Sharks. So, God is faithful to me. I am not going to wait for a big team before I do my job."
COD's gain is now Sharks loss, one may say, but Eguavoen said he had to move on after the Port Harcourt's team delay in meeting the terms of their contract.
"I and Sharks started very well; we negotiated and everything was going very smoothly but we were running out of time. There were delays in my contract.
"I waited from October 2012 till March 2013 when I left and nothing came up. I gave them an ultimatum and they didn't meet it and I had to leave.
"I am a professional and don't want to be dragged back; there is life after football, we are still in good terms. The fact that we've separated doesn't really matter," he stated.
Despite the hitch in signing for Sharks and then having to coach COD, Eguavoen describes his coaching career at club level in Nigeria as "wonderful" and admits two-time African champions Enyimba are Nigeria's best professionally run club.
"It's been wonderful. I am a professional; that's why I came to COD because they are leaning towards professionalism as well. But Enyimba are the best oganised club in the country; I must give it to them. Enyimba won the FA Cup in 2009 under my tutelage.
"From Enyimba, I went to the U-23 and we didn't qualify for the Olympics and I had to throw in the towel. I had to give a chance for another coach to come and try.
"After then, Sharks picked interest in me and I told them from day one that I was not going to work without a contract and I had to move when things didn't work out.
"COD is a smaller club but the players are enthusiastic, the management is ready to go and hopefully, we will get promoted and take it from there."
