Sports
Fans Fault Keshi’s World Cup List
Some football fans in
Ondo State have faulted Coach Stephen Keshi’s Super Eagles’ final list for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, some believe that nothing was wrong with the list and that all that was needed now was prayers for the team to succeed at the Mundial.
Keshi recently released the 23-man final list including three goal-keepers, six defenders, seven strikers and seven mid-fielders.
The fans in separate interviews told newsmen that Keshi dropped some important players who helped in securing the 2013 AFCON Cup in South Africa.
They also advised that Keshi should inject his technical prowess in coordinating the squad for the team to go beyond the round of 16.
A sports analyst in Ondo, Oluwatoyin Olafusi, said that Keshi made a big mistake by dropping Sunday Mba who sealed the 2013 AFCON Cup in South Africa.
Olafusi said that most of the players featured in the list might not have the zeal to surpass the round of 16 at the tournament.
“The problem I have with Keshi is the dropping of Mba. Most of the players on that list will only help Keshi to lose his job,’’ he said. A Television Sports Presenter, Kayode Bamiduro, said that Keshi should have featured more of the home-based players instead of just three of them he listed.
He, however said that names like Joseph Yobo and Osazie Odemwingie should not have been on the final list.
“What isYobo and Odemwingie doing in that list? I think Keshi should have given more opportunities to the home-based players who could help pursue our dream,” Bamiduro said.
For the General Manager, Ondo State Sports Council, Idowu Akinbulumo, the list had been released already and changes might not be made again. Akinbulumo said Keshi should put in all his best to ensure the team went far in the World Cup.
“Although, I am not too impressed with the list but Keshi must be ready to employ all technical prowess for the team to get the quarter-finals in Brazil,’’ he said.
A former Director, Ondo State Football Academy, Tunde Ogunja, said nothing was wrong with the list, adding that Keshi knew what he was doing.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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