Dalung Defends Oliseh, Insist He Remains Coach
Barr. Solomon Dalung (Minister for Youth and Sports)[/caption]
Minister for Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung has urged Nigerians to support beleaguered manager, Sunday Oliseh as the coach is said to be facing difficult moments.
The minister disclosed this while answering questions regarding the feud between the coach and the NFF, as he was quizzed by members of the House Committee on Sports during a budget defense on Wednesday.
He further said that he had spoken with Oliseh and the NFF president Amaju Pinnick to resolve the ongoing feud between both parties, adding that he pleaded with Pinnick to ensure Oliseh wasn’t sacked.
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“We must appreciate the way Nigerians behave and their sentiments to sports especially football. Nigerians do not accept anything short of victory. The performance of the team that led to whatever we are hearing, from my own analysis, was due to overconfidence,” the minister said.
”In terms of preparations and planning, you could access them based on their first outing. Of course, they had some welfare challenges which we inherited when we came on board. We took steps to secure approval for funds but the process of the release of funds could not beat the time of the outing. That also contributed to their early exit.
“The idea of losing matches and sacking coaches is over. We cannot be winning matches all the time. We must build wider spaces in our minds for failure and success because that is the only way we can develop. The fact that he lost a game is not enough for us to begin to look at history.
“You don’t run a country like that! The man should be allowed and supported to come back and prepare the team for the qualifying matches ahead. If he had health challenges while working for us, we shouldn’t abandon him at this time.”
