Former Super Eagles Defender Says Keshi’s Sack Was an Error
Former Super Eagles player, Tajudeen Disu has said the Nigeria Football Federation has made a mistake by sacking former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.
The Federation ended Keshi’s job with the national team and appointed Amodu Shaibu as interim coach as the team have two Africa Cup of Nations qualifier matches left to play.
He said: “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.
“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?
“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.
“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 defender also said the NFF would be making another mistake if they hire a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, as foreigner had not succeeded in the past.
