Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama has opened up on the reason he did not apply for the vacant managerial position in the team.
The Super Eagles coaching job became vacant after the Nations Cup when Jose Peseiro’s contract was not extended and a lot of ex-internationals have been linked with the position.
Top among them is the duo of Emmanuel Amunike, and Finidi George, who was in charge of the team for the two international friendly matches against Ghana and Mali in March.
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The former Lille goalkeeper has now shed more light on his refusal to apply for the Super Eagles job while also providing update on his area of interest since he retired from football.
Enyeama said: “No, no, no. It’s not that I am not interested; it’s just that I am not certified.
“For you to be able to coach the Super Eagles, you must be certified. That’s the minimum standard.
“That’s the number one reason, and the fact that I have been very busy developing and managing my hotel has taken a lot of my attention, and that business is the most important thing for me now.
“So, football is like number two for me now, unless just one day the Nigeria Football Federation says, ‘Please come and share your wealth of experience in this area with these players,’ then it becomes a different thing altogether.
“For now, I have to wait until I get the necessary certificate before I can say this is where I want to coach or the area where I can support the national teams.”
Enyeama also mentioned that he is interested in becoming a full team coach and not a goalkeeper trainer.
He said: “Whatever I am doing now is how to become a full coach of a team, and not just a goalie’s trainer. If I have to be a goalie’s trainer then, it has to be with very young ones in junior teams because they are the ones you really teach. They are still growing and open to learning new things; with these ones you can easily transmit what you want.
“It will be nice to manage the full team because, as a goalkeeper, you always have a full view of the field and what everyone is doing at any given time. And that’s why most goalies make good coaches, and most midfielders do well too, as we can see in (Pep) Guardiola, (Xabi) Alonso, Xavi. They were all midfielders.”
Enyeama made 101 appearances for the Super Eagles and he represented the team at the FIFA World Cup tournaments in 2002, 2014 and 2018.
He was part of the team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations trophy under the tutelage of the late Stephen Keshi.
The Nigeria Football Federation is expected to name the new Super Eagles coach in the next few days ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in June.