The United States of America U19 soccer team coach Michael Nsien has urged the Nigeria football federation to take a proactive measure to prevent Nigeria’s football from retrograde as other countries are moving with electrifying space in the sport development and Nigeria has to be careful that it doesn’t go the opposite way.
The erstwhile Nigeria’s “Dream Team” player, Nsien, was responding to questions from sports journalists during an interview session on Nigeria foremost platform “Nigeria Sports Mouthpiece” (NSM) and noted that Nigeria football team has recorded tremendous success at the youth level however a new dimension must be deployed as other countries are catching up fast.
“I don’t think you can compare the history of the achievements in the youth portion of football in the world with Nigeria and the USA. There is no question that Nigeria has a better history but if we’re to speak of today and the future maybe we can speak of something different.
“In the past a lot of the achievements were based on just the talent which Nigeria would continue to have forever but at some point the developmental process becomes even more important. So, I think a lot of Nigerian talents become natural while in the US some of them are trained.
“But the US is now starting to have natural talent and they’re getting exposed to a better environment at the early age than their Nigerian counterparts.
“I think the day is coming that the US will start to be considered one the top global development countries in the sport as a matter of time and Nigeria has to be careful that it doesn’t go the opposite way. There is a lot of process to both, one is going one direction and one is pretty much going the other direction.
“I had the experience when we played the Nigeria team in Japan with our youth U16 team and you can see the individual talent of the Nigeria players for sure but the structure and the organization of the team is something totally different.”
When asked if he would consider taking up the Super Eagles job as the position would become vacant gong by the details of contact of Jose Pesiero after the Africa cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the Nigerian-American said he’s not considering putting his name out for any application.
“The way I look at it I am in a good place, I received my promotion with the United States Federation going from the U16 to U19 in less than a year. I was just an assistant with the first team, the senior men’s team in the Gold cup.
“I will continue to get more opportunities with the senior team and the experience as well in the United States from the youth team to the senior team and with so many resources at disposal so I am actually really happy with my own process and my growth as a coach.
“I think if Nigeria (Super eagle) comes open would I be tempted to apply? I think Nigeria will know that I am a worthy candidate from my experience and they’ll reach out to me.
I don’t think, currently, that I will put out my name in the application process whether they reach out to me first to space my achievements.
“If it were to come, though I think I stand a chance I would say so because they reach out to me, they recognised my level as a coach and how and how they think I can help Super Eagles”, Michael Nsien concluded.
