THE man who led  Nigeria to their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 1994, Clemens Westerhof said only a white coach can change Nigeria’s fortunes.

Speaking in Namibia Westerhof said despite qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and African Nations Cup, the Super Eagles no longer has wings and are too weary to conquer the continent.
“Nigeria is not a small team to qualify to the World Cup at the last minute like that. Things have gone terribly wrong in Nigerian football over the years after I left. Everyone  thinks they can,” he said.
 Nigerian born coach  Shaibu Amodu led the Super Eagles to a 3-2 victory over Kenya in Nairobi to steal the World Cup ticket from Tunisia who went down 0-1 in Mozambique  a fortnight ago.
“Only a white coach will earn respect in Nigeria and get things done.  They  will not go with this black coach to South Africa. It wont work if they need results. Whites  are very much respected in Nigeria and as a coach you need a respect where anything you say goes,” said the Dutchman.
He says shortly after Nigeria  were held by Mozambique in the qualifiers,  the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) approached him to take over the team but he turned down arguing that he has won everything with Nigeria.
“That local coach has been under fire during the qualifiers and even if the football federation tries to protect him, I don’t see him lasting until the World Cup. Nigeria needs a white coach urgently,” said Westerhof.