Stephen Keshi
Former Nigeria defender Tajudeen Disu has faulted
the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation not to retain Stephen Keshi as
Super Eagles coach.
The NFF recently replaced Keshi with Amodu Shaibu even as the team have two matches left in the preliminary round of qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria are third in Group A with four points behind South Africa, who have eight points, and Congo, who have seven points. Sudan are bottom of the group with three points.
The Eagles had lost to Congo and Sudan, and also drawn with South Africa.
“Keshi’s performance was not that terrible as to warrant his removal even after he had won a game. I think the NFF was afraid that he might qualify the team for the Nations Cup and become difficult to remove,” Disu told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday.
“Many of his critics had expected him to fail; some of his so-called friends had even lined up to take his job, waiting for him to be sacked. Why wasn’t he sacked when he lost to Congo and Sudan? What magic do they expect Amodu to perform?”
Disu said Keshi’s refusal to include some players in his plan because of their indiscipline should be applauded rather than criticising him.
“If his removal was due to his exclusion of some players, then there’s no justification for the NFF action. No coach would be willing to work with indiscipline players at any time,” he said.
“No matter how important a player may appear to be in a team, he is useless if he is indiscipline. Many football followers will recall the decision of late coach Christopher Udemezue when he replaced Tarila Okorowanta with Samson Siasia during the qualifiers for the 1984 Nations Cup. Siasia, incidentally, scored the only goal when we defeated Gabon in an away game.
“Udemezue also replaced Humphrey Edobor with Christopher Anigala for the same reason and the team still performed well. What matters is that the coach should get result. The major problem in our football is that many of the administrators didn’t play professional football and know little about indiscipline in a team.
“With his actions, Udemezue became the first indigenous coach that qualified Nigeria for a FIFA-organised tournament in 1983.”
The former Abiola Babes player also faulted NFF’s decision to hire a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, saying there had been waste of resources in employing expatriates in the past.
The NFF recently replaced Keshi with Amodu Shaibu even as the team have two matches left in the preliminary round of qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria are third in Group A with four points behind South Africa, who have eight points, and Congo, who have seven points. Sudan are bottom of the group with three points.
The Eagles had lost to Congo and Sudan, and also drawn with South Africa.
“Keshi’s performance was not that terrible as to warrant his removal even after he had won a game. I think the NFF was afraid that he might qualify the team for the Nations Cup and become difficult to remove,” Disu told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday.
“Many of his critics had expected him to fail; some of his so-called friends had even lined up to take his job, waiting for him to be sacked. Why wasn’t he sacked when he lost to Congo and Sudan? What magic do they expect Amodu to perform?”
Disu said Keshi’s refusal to include some players in his plan because of their indiscipline should be applauded rather than criticising him.
“If his removal was due to his exclusion of some players, then there’s no justification for the NFF action. No coach would be willing to work with indiscipline players at any time,” he said.
“No matter how important a player may appear to be in a team, he is useless if he is indiscipline. Many football followers will recall the decision of late coach Christopher Udemezue when he replaced Tarila Okorowanta with Samson Siasia during the qualifiers for the 1984 Nations Cup. Siasia, incidentally, scored the only goal when we defeated Gabon in an away game.
“Udemezue also replaced Humphrey Edobor with Christopher Anigala for the same reason and the team still performed well. What matters is that the coach should get result. The major problem in our football is that many of the administrators didn’t play professional football and know little about indiscipline in a team.
“With his actions, Udemezue became the first indigenous coach that qualified Nigeria for a FIFA-organised tournament in 1983.”
The former Abiola Babes player also faulted NFF’s decision to hire a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, saying there had been waste of resources in employing expatriates in the past.