Former Nigeria international Godwin Okpara has expressed his belief that new national team head coach Finidi George will have no trouble commanding the respect of Super Eagles stars, Soccernet.ng reports.
After seven years of working with European tacticians Gernot Rohr and Jose Peseiro, the Super Eagles will now be guided by Finidi.
There are concerns in certain quarters that some Super Eagles players with bloated egos could have difficulty taking instructions from an indigenous coach.
However, former Paris Saint Germain defender Okpara insists a Nigerian legend like Finidi is above such disrespect from the Super Eagles players.
With Finidi having won the UEFA Champions League with Ajax during his playing days, Okpara maintains that the former Ipswich Town winger already boasts a more successful resume than any foreigner the Nigeria Football Federation could have employed.
Waving away reported discontent towards Finidi among some Super Eagles players when he led Nigeria against Ghana and Mali in March, Okpara is confident the coach will have no trouble handling the national team.
“I don’t think that as a professional player, with the level that Finidi has reached, you can’t just come out there and talk to him anyhow,” Okpara told the New Telegraph.
“What have you won? You that is talking, have you won the Champions League?
“He didn’t do it with a big team; he did it with Ajax. What are we saying? Would you have mind to say something like this? No. I don’t think so. I don’t think that kind of thing will happen.
“He is a local coach, but he has done what most of the foreign-based coaches have not done before, so I think the players will surely respect him.”
Until he was appointed the coach of the national team, Finidi was in charge of NPFL giants Enyimba, who he led to the league title last year.
A product of the local league himself, Finidi is better positioned to identify the best talents in the NPFL and integrate them into the Super Eagles.
Okpara asks Finidi to make the Super Eagles competitive by finding the right balance between the home-based and foreign-based stars.
“With time, he (Finidi) knows how he started,” Okpara added.
“We were very strong in our home-based. You can imagine, may his soul rest in peace, when Thompson Oliha was here. He was the only home-based playing in the midst of foreign-based, which means our league was strong then.
“You can imagine he was benching internationals, which means our league was so strong then. Finidi has the idea, and I think he can bring back home-based players. It’s just a matter of time; he will bring it back again.
“He will make our league so strong so that our home-based will be in the national team,” the former Strasbourg full-back concluded.
NB: Does Finidi George have the aura and charisma to command the respect of the big players in the Super Eagles? Leave your comments below.