Odegbami Defends Finidi George After Rivers United’s Heavy Defeat
Former Nigeria captain Segun Odegbami has come to the defense of Rivers United coach Finidi George after the team’s heavy defeat in the African Club Championship, insisting that the blame lies not with the coach but with the deeper malaise afflicting Nigerian football.
Rivers United, Nigeria’s last representatives in this season’s continental competition, were thrashed 4-0 at home in Uyo by Morocco’s Pyramids FC. The result leaves them with a near-impossible task ahead of the second leg in Morocco.
Odegbami argues that the loss is not a reflection of George’s coaching ability but rather a symptom of Nigeria’s declining football structures.
He pointed out that Nigerian clubs have consistently struggled against teams from countries such as South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria, nations that have invested heavily in infrastructure, player welfare, and television coverage.
By contrast, Nigerian clubs face poor facilities, insecure travel conditions, lack of sponsorship, and an inability to retain their best players. These shortcomings, Odegbami stressed, have created a gulf that no coach can bridge with tactics alone.
Even Remo Stars, Nigeria’s current league champions and widely regarded as the most professionally run club in the country, suffered a similar humiliation at home against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns earlier in the season. Their chairman, Kunle Soname, openly acknowledged the yawning gap between Nigerian football and that of the continent’s leading nations.
Odegbami lamented that returning ex-internationals with top coaching qualifications are often unfairly judged by their results in Nigeria’s weak domestic league.
He argued that their struggles are not due to incompetence but to the broken football system they are forced to work within. When these coaches seek national team roles, their club records are used against them, perpetuating what he described as a ‘frustratingly endless cycle.’
Against this backdrop, Odegbami condemned the harassment and abuse directed at Finidi George by angry fans after Rivers United’s defeat. He insisted that George had done ‘more than a yeoman’s job’ by guiding the team this far in the competition and deserved respect, encouragement, and credit, not vilification.
‘The defeat should never be attributed to his coaching deficit,’ Odegbami wrote. ‘It is a measure of the failure of the country’s domestic football and leagues. Let them go and tell football administrators to fix Nigerian football first, and leave poor struggling Nigerian elite coaches alone.’
