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| Stephen Keshi |
In a piece I wrote almost exactly 120 days ago, I called attention to the impending implosion of Nigeria's Super Eagles at this year's FIFA World Cup if our football stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians did not call Stephen Keshi and the Football Federation of Nigeria (NFF) to order.
Well, it seems I have been proven right at the initial onset with the listless performance of the Super Eagles against a very poor Iranian side, that essentially "parked the bus" against an inexperienced and poorly coached Nigerian team.
As a Nigerian, I believe it is imperative that I make it abundantly clear that I want this team to do well.
However, the handwriting has been on the wall since the 1-1 draw against "mighty" Kenya in Calabar.
In fact, going back as far as the Nations Cup final against Burkina Faso, it was apparent that the team lacked the requisite bite in the final third as they actually should have put Burkina Faso to the proverbial sword much sooner, had they (Nigeria) not been so profligate in front of goal.
The team struggled to score in that final game simply because one player, Emmanuel Emenike was out injured. Nigeria has never been built like that as far as I have known. We have always had players in all positions with the ability to score at any time.
The problem though was that Keshi, who was essentially the "king of the Super Eagles mafia" in those days, had again brought his well-known lack of man-management skills (same when he was with Togo and Mali) to the Super Eagles and was clashing with all the key players Nigeria needed to take this team to the next level.
Nigeria huffed and puffed its way through the qualifiers against "world beaters" such as Namibia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi and had to wait till the last day to grind out a listless 2-0 victory over Ethiopia, a country better known for producing long distance runners.
Everyone that had the ability to analyze the team pointed to the ominous flaws in the team, but Keshi, in his usual stubborn stance (that always seems to defy logic) continued to ride his self-destructive ego by alienating the proven strikers we had such as Anichebe, Martins and Ikechukwu Uche, among others.
We all continued to shout at the top of our voices, but we were always met with accusations of bias (including tribalism) by his ardent supporters who refuse to see anything wrong with a man whose antecedents point to a recurring penchant for self-destruction, by virtue of an over-bearing ego and debilitating stubbornness.
When Keshi finally released his team list, we all saw the handwriting on the wall. Although we welcomed the inclusion of Osaze Odemwingie, an experienced player with an eye for goal, there were some suspect call-ups (including the likes of Gabriel Reuben, Juwon Oshaniwa, Michael Uchebo and Michael Babatunde) that had absolutely no business being anywhere near the Eagles' training camp, much less on the plane to Brazil.
When you add the suspect call ups to Keshi's laziness (never scouts his opponents) and inability to offer the requisite technical and tactical input (pre-game and in-game), it is easy to see why this team is destined to struggle and did just that against a vastly inferior Iranian team.
This is not the African Nations Cup and as such those who are expecting another miracle should just forget about it. As a Nigerian that bleeds the Green-White-Green of that great nation, I hope this team does well and represents Africa with distinction.
It is however clear that regardless of how the team performs at this competition, Stephen Keshi and his band of agents (including Daniel Amokachi) need to be shown the door to prevent them from destroying the next generation of great talent we have coming through the ranks.
Nigeria and Nigerians deserve better as we have the talent pool needed to put us at the top for years to come..... with the right person at the helm.
Stephen Keshi is not that person and we wish him well on his new assignment with South Africa or any of the other five countries he says want him.
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