Stephen Keshi may have literally lifted the poisoned chalice of the NFF by his decisions at the ongoing World Cup. It remains for the Glass House to order him to have a sip
Stephen Keshi
With Super Eagles of Nigeria last Group F match against former world champions, Argentina, on Wednesday, June 25, in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Brazil, top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are putting heads together for a replacement for the team’s chief coach, Stephen Keshi, TheNiche can authoritatively report.
This is coming at the heels of series of condemnation of his technical ability and team’s selection ahead of crucial matches such as witnessed in the ongoing World Cup in Brazil, especially in the team’s opening match against Iran in Curitiba.
Analyst, Godwin Dudu Orumen, who has never hidden his feelings on the calibre of players picked by Keshi for the World Cup, questioned the selection used by the coach in the drab barren draw against Iran.
And he was quick to add that unless Keshi goes back to the drawing board, the team may not qualify for the second round, and that he (Keshi) should be ready to stay back in Brazil, if the team eventually crashes out.
“I learnt he accused Osaze of not playing to instruction in the match against Iran; but how many minutes of that terrible match did Victor Moses, Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike, Mikel Obi, Ramon Azeez and even Efe Ambrose who were all below par play that did not change things for good of the team?
“I’m not a fan of Osaze, but he can’t be held singularly responsible for the very poor showing of the team. Keshi should do something else and in fact sort himself out quickly or else…” blasted Orumen.
Former Super Eagles midfielder, Austin Okocha, also sternly criticised Keshi for the team’s poor performance against Iran.
“We were poor, but we hope to get better as the tournament progresses,” the 40-year-old told BBC Sport.
“This (match against Iran) was a must-win for Nigeria, but we did not take it. We did not do enough in terms of our tactical play. Keshi did not do enough work on the team.”
Okocha, who scored 14 goals in 74 games for Nigeria, is now on the technical committee of the NFF and gave damning assessment of Keshi’s overall decision-making.
“(Peter Odemwingie) was more creative when he came in, and we needed him more in this game,” the retired master dribbler added.
“The tactical play of Eagles was so bad; I hold Keshi responsible for this,” he said.
Dolphins FC handler, Stanley Eguma, also feels that Keshi might have bungled the country’s hope of a second round ticket. He blamed the coach for the team’s draw against the Team Melli of Iran in its first match.
According to him, the technical crew got everything wrong, as Nigeria’s aspiration to reach the knock-out stage now becomes slimmer.
“Keshi has most of the blame. His tactics were wrong and his substitutions too were far from impressive,” he said.
“Despite the ploy deployed by Iran, we were still expected to dig in deep to get a win, but the strategy to leave only Emmanuel Emenike upfront never worked at all.
“That was a game we expected the Eagles to win, so that the team could seek consolidation against Bosnia and Argentina.
“But the Eagles (players) I saw on Monday were far from their best, and it will be difficult for them to qualify from that group.”
But Keshi has maintained he should not be blamed for the team’s poor outing, as he is just an ordinary coach and not God.
“I’m not God; I’m just a coach and I will do what I have to do and that’s it. Even the best coaches in the world cannot tell you they will win before a game.
“We will try to prepare ourselves. We will work together and see what happens. We saw (the surprise from) Costa Rica. We saw (another surprise) Holland and Spain. With football, you never can tell. Whatever comes my way, I will take it,” he said.
A source close to the NFF secretariat informed TheNiche that plans are in top gear for the federation’s officials to get him out of the job immediately after the World Cup.
“We are just tired of his antics and bossy way of leadership. He is so fond of himself that he will not even want to take corrections from people.
“I won’t be surprised if he is asked to go at the end of the World Cup because of the team’s poor performance at the Mundial,” said our source.
