Jose Peseiro achieved his first objective as Super Eagles head Coach, sealing qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations, but the 63 year-old is at a crossroads with his employers, Nigeria Football Federation, over a new contract.

Peseiro has been in charge for a year and played 9 official matches as Super Eagles coach (W4 , L5), but scrutiny over the team’s performance has been intense.

The defeats to Mexico and See Ecuador in his first games, as well as the loss to Algeria – the first time he has lost to an African National team – raise eyebrows, but falling 1-0 at home to Guinea-Bissau threw his position as Coach up for debate.

In his defence, the Portuguese has had very limited time to work with the “best” available legs, hence team chemistry and organization has been a bit disruptive.

There has also been the issue of horrendous playing surfaces and facilities made available for the largely Europe based players to “manage”. The tough enduring exercise of playing over an hour of “African football” on surfaces that disagrees with free flowing football and could potentially inflict terrible injuries, foist Super Eagles players to “act wisely” while in action.

A very recent and succinct example would be the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match between Sierra Leone and Nigeria at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia.

A CAF approved stadium for the game, but the state of it was terrible for football and it showed in the quality of play.

That quality has been the bane of the demanding and passionate Nigerian football fans, whose inclination and desire for “beautiful” football won’t permit them to see the bigger issues.

Regardless, Jose Peseiro’s contract runs out this month and while both parties have kept mum on the possibility of a new deal, they’ve often had to occasionally treat questions of “the future”.

While the Coach isn’t expecting a drastic decision, the NFF has some pertinent points to consider and chief among them is the funds to keep the 63 year-old on his $70k monthly wage, while the Federation itself is cash strapped.

The coming weeks will prove crucial to the situation between Peseiro and the NFF, but it’s believed the parties will put the interest of the team first.