Pinnick Wants Nigerians to Exercise “Patience” With Eagles

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has called for “patience” as they sought to render a long-lasting solution to the “situation” of the national football team after Saturday’s disappointing loss in Sudan.

Nigeria are bottom of their group in the final qualifying series for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) with just a point from three rounds of matches.

South Africa top Group A with seven points while Sudan, who are due to play in Nigeria on Wednesday are third with three points after last night’s 1-0 win over the reigning African champions.

“It is embarrassing that as reigning champions we are struggling in the qualifying series, with only one point out of a possible nine. It is an awful output,” he said.

“However, we want our people to be patient and not stampede the Federation to take knee-jerk decisions that will backfire in the end. We are on top of the situation and will take decisions that are in the best interest of Nigeria football.”

Pinnick expressed disappointment over recent results posted by the Super Eagles but says the new Executive Committee would like to do things differently in a bid to foster “sustainable” growth.

“We understand that Nigerians are furious over the fact that the Eagles are last in their pool and are in danger of not qualifying for the finals in Morocco. Everyone feels bad about this, including the members of NFF Executive Committee,” he continued.

“I just want to call on Nigerians to have patience. This new board is determined to do things differently. We are passionate about the Nigeria game and what we want to achieve is build a sustainable culture for our dear country.

“Our target is to ensure that Nigeria finishes in pole position at major football competitions in Africa and the world, and we believe this is achievable through hard work, diligence, strategic planning and support of everyone.”