Uche’s Inclusion Excites Eagles Fans

Super Eagles coach
Stephen Keshi has finally bowed to pressure from the public to recall Ikechukwu Uche and now it is for the Villarreal striker to prove the fans were right.
Keshi first claimed Uche was tactically not disciplined and then later alleged the striker has said he has to be begged to play again for Nigeria.
Such was the controversy between coach and player that at the height of it, Keshi warned reporters he would no longer entertain any questions about Uche.
The return of the 30-year-old striker, whose last game for Nigeria was the AFCON final against Burkina Faso on February 10, 2013, is therefore a big victory for the fans.
No one doubts the class of a striker, who last season fired 14 goals in the Spanish La Liga.
But at last year’s AFCON in South Africa he was a pale shadow of the player who has on several occasions bailed Nigeria out of very tight situations.
His slump in form at AFCON 2013 coincided with the emergence of Emmanuel Emenike as Nigeria’s new goals machine.
Emenike went on to finish as the tournament’s top scorer with four goals and then scored a brace as Nigeria outscored Ethiopia 4-1 on aggregate to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
However, Emenike’s goals have since dried up allowing Ahmed Musa to assume the mantle as the country’s leading scorer.
Emenike is now a marked man and the likes of Congo, Sudan and South Africa have so far succeeded in shutting him out.
Uche is therefore a viable option for the Fenerbache striker because he is a completely different type of player who relies on his flair and guile as against the grit and power play of Emenike.
Uche, who recently celebrated scoring a century of goals in Spain, has equally proved himself at full international level as he has scored 18 goals in 44 appearances for Nigeria since his debut in 2007.
Both Keshi and Uche are professionals and as such they have to put behind them all the controversies to ensure Nigeria qualifies for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The coach is expected to reassure the player he no longer has any ill feelings toward him and give him the necessary confidence to play for him again.
The player himself has to give everything for the country whether it is going well for him or not because Nigeria is far bigger than both he and Keshi.
Osaze Odemwingie and Keshi have already proved that this is possible at the last World Cup in Brazil.