Super Eagles of Nigeria ..... Keshi so far

It has be over a year now when emotions of the Nigeria football fraternity boiled, raged over the non qualification of the Super Eagles of Nigeria to the 2012 African Cup of Nations hosted in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. Samson Siasia had to pay the price with his job... There were mixed feeling, some wanted him to stay while other wanted him shown the way out . Personally I would have loved if he was retained as l liked the brand of football he displayed while coaching the under 20 and the Olympic team respectively. I am sure he will do things differently now if given another crack at the national team.

Now back to Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi was appointed to restore the National team to the glory days,football commentators, fans, journalist all agree that the national team is in an all time low, there is point deceiving ourselves over this, the team has constantly declined over the year due various behind the scene reason ranging administration, coaching and dedication from the some section of the players .Our performance at the World Cup 2010 was abysmal and loosing to Guinea was just the time bomb that exposed our years of decline. Keshi came in amidst all this debacles and he knew he had his work cut out for him.

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi have being around the Nigerian football setting for a very long time, since his days as football player, I have exceptional admiration for the Big Boss as he is know from his football days, His  charisma and leadership qualities were  so evident in his playing, personally he is by my own estimation the best Centre back Nigeria have ever had, now other would mention Christian Chukwu but I only saw few clips of him as i was still very young to comprehended him so i cannot compare.But Keshi was  an awesome sight at the rear, I remember Maroc 88 when Keshi could only play 2 important games for Nigeria because of his indispensable importance to his club - Anderlecht Belgium. It was pretty obvious that his post football years lies within the coaching line. Keshi had previous coached Nigeria before now- firstly - was in charge of the under 20 Flying Eagles team , then he assisted Jo Bonfere and Amodu Shaibu . His first crack as the first team coach came when he was appointed to manage the Togolese National team, this is still the major highlight of Keshi's coaching career, having qualfiying the soccer minors for the 2006 World Cup, coaching a malian team that boasted the likes Mohamodou Diarra, Lamine Sisoko, Saydou Kaita and Fredric Kanoute. So he came with some sort experience at top flight level.

Let the Building process Start.

On arrival Keshi  he made the bold move of inviting some home based players, camped them and began the rebuilding process. this turn of event was welcomed as we have depended on the foreign based players for over 10 years. The task looks daunting as the players were still in their raw state. Though you cannot question the talent of this players, but they lacked the basic rudiments of the game like ball trapping, position, movement off the ball and so on,this obviously reflect the state of our local league. However Keshi was still able to bring out the best in what was available. Playing Series of friendlies against Egypt  Peru Angola began to expose this boy to international and top flight at least. The building process brought about some discoveries like Ejike Uzonyi, Godfrey Obabuona, Azubike Eguweke, Papa Idris, Jowon Oshanewa, Sunday Uba, Gabriel Reuben, Henry Uche, Uche Kalu Izu Azuka and Solomon Kwambe.

The performance at some of the friendlies began to show some glimpse of hope, however the feeling was that there was still a long way to go and it was glaring that the homebased need to be blended with the foreign players.

The Real test....

The African cup of nations qualifiers began and the game was going to be against Rwanda, Unlike in previous past, the foreign basesd player were invited to complement the homebased. This game saw the return of Yakubu Dickson Etuhu Ozaze Odemwingie and Taiye Taiwo, by now Victor Moses had being cleared to play for Nigeria..The game ended in a draw and again the commitment of some of the foreign pro was question. and that problably marked the end for the likes of Yakubu Taiwo Etuhu and Odemwingie. The positive on the other hand were the capping of Victor Moses and a certain Ejike Uzonyi asserted himself and it looked like the sort of natural left wingers we have craved for since the days of Emmanuel Amuneke. Several other games were played and eventually Nigeria qualified for  the African Cup of Nations billed for South Africa in 2013.


Keshi shortlist 32

Keshi has shortlisted 32 players for the African Cup of Nations and the list seems quite balanced but  the selection of the player got into the media for the wrong reasons.First Osaze Odemwingie took to the twitter pages to express his displeasure at being left out of the squad,lambasting the Keshi, the football authorities and the team captain - Joseph Yobo. Different journalist,commentators felt Ozaze has gone to far in how he has handled the situation,moreso he has had histories with previous national team mangers in time past. In my opinion,while i think Osaze took the wrong approach and he could have handled the situation a lot better,our managers/administrators needs to imbibe the aspect human relations and communication,from all indications,Keshi has been talking to Odemwingie before the final selection- but he was not informed before the list came out.Now you may ask,does Keshi needs to inform every player not shorlisted? No, However certain senior players who has being part of the mix for a while should be treated with some degree of mutual respect. 

Finally my expectation for the  Super Eagles is to have a very good tournament, quoting a friend of mine i am managing my expectations judiciously. I am more particular in seeing an improved team synergy, and hopefully that  home based player that would be selected would have good tournament exposure, personally i don't think Nigeria will win the tournament,however i will celebrate a Semi Final qualification. For me this would be my main form of acessement for Keshi .


I wish the team a good success and HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE.

Follow me on twitter  @ amoky