A glimpse into the four shortlisted candidates for the Super Eagles job
We introduce to you one of the shortlisted candidates for the vacant coaching job in Nigeria 🇳🇬 senior national team “The Super Eagles”
But first of all, let’s get into the what type of a coach do Nigerians want?
Is it a coach that will be given room to operate in terms of discovering talent and bringing an appeal to the Super Eagles like Clemens Westerhof, not a just coach, but a reputable coach that makes command off and on the pitch with all access granted to discover raw talent within the country and few ones in Europe ( Not an imposing player by the NFF)?
First on the list of these managers is a former Le Blue centre back Laurent Blanc.
Le President has been called by colleagues during his playing days at Olympique Marseille, the former coach of French 🇫🇷 Ligue one side, Bordeaux
Blanc played professional football for numerous clubs, including Montpellier, Napoli, Barcelona, Marseille, Inter Milan and Manchester United, often operating in the sweeper position. He is also a former French international, earning 97 caps and scoring 16 international goals. He represented the country in several international tournaments, including the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, both of which France won. On 28 June 1998, Blanc scored the first golden goal in World Cup history against Paraguay.
He began his managerial career at Bordeaux in 2007, winning domestic honours including the 2008–09 Ligue 1 title. After leaving Bordeaux in 2010 he became the manager of the French national team until 2012, replacing Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and leading the country to the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2012. In 2013, he was hired by Paris Saint-Germain, winning further honours. After three successful years with Paris Saint-Germain, he left the club in June 2016.
On 16 May 2010, Blanc confirmed his departure from Bordeaux after three seasons in charge of the French outfit. After resigning from his position, Blanc contacted the French Football Federation (FFF) to inquire about the French national team job, which was eventually vacated by Raymond Domenech following the 2010 World Cup. Later that day, FFF President Jean-Pierre Escalettes confirmed that Blanc was a candidate for the position. On 18 May 2010, with Blanc’s appointment to the position becoming more probable, Bordeaux chairman Jean-Louis Triaud demanded compensation from the Federation. On 20 May 2010, the club reached an agreement with the FFF for €1.5 million. On 26 June, French media confirmed that Blanc had signed a two-year contract with the Federation to lead the team to Euro 2012. The deal was finalized a week later and Blanc was officially named as manager of the team on 2 July.
As he took charge of France, the Federation had decided to suspend all 23 players who took part in the South African World Cup, much to Blanc’s regret. On 11 August, in his first game as manager, France lost 2–1 to Norway at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.
However, Blanc’s team soon managed to top their Euro 2012 qualifying group while also achieving friendly wins over England, Brazil and Germany. France’s first match in Group D of Euro 2012 was against England and ended in a 1–1 draw after Samir Nasri scored to cancel out a goal scored by Joleon Lescott. France then went on to win their second match 2–0 against Ukraine. They advanced to the quarter-finals by finishing in the second position in Group D, despite losing to Sweden 2–0 in their final group match. France was defeated 2–0 by the defending champions Spain in the quarter-final match. Blanc stepped down as manager of the national team on 30 June 2012.
