Nigeria is at crossroads, a state of confusion over her preparations towards a successful outing at the World Cup in Brazil kicking off on June 12, 2014. I am compelled once again to express my genuine concerns over the state of our preparations as it remains evident that out of the 32 countries that will be at the World Cup, Nigeria as at this moment in the only country without any clear cut preparations, no team list yet made public despite the provisional May 10, deadline given by FIFA to Football Associations of the qualified countries and the embarrassing show of shame, hide and seek game between coach Stephen Keshi and his employers, the Nigeria Football Federation Nigeria has no team that we will be proud of going to the World Cup and I can assure us any successful outing of the Super Eagles at Brazil 2014 will not be beyond the second round. I stand to be proven wrong.
The crisis between the NFF and the Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi has torn the preparations of the team in jeopardy as Keshi holds tight to his list of 38 provisional players which according to competent sources include the likes of Goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim, Onyechachi Apam and a host of reserve players who have suddenly found their way into the team list on Keshi’s unanimous yardsticks while the battle to include the country’s highest goal scorer in recent times, Ikechukwu Uche continues to be the centre of controversy daily as Keshi still remains adamant on not taking the Villareal striker to Brazil.Last week, Keshi played a fast one on the NFF and the technical committee as he failed to submit a provisional list to the committee for the World Cup which drew the ire of members who felt insulted that members had to reconvene at the expense of the board currently under financial challenges to meet to assess Keshi’s list only to be told that he was yet to be ready on his final choice of players barely two months to the World Cup.
It will be the second time in about a month, Keshi would call the bluff of the NFF technical committee as he had earlier shunned an appearance with the committee in Abuja preferring to feature at an event organized by a sponsor of the National football team on a round table for Nigerian football at the World Cup in Lagos the same day.
Keshi’s action did not go down well in the football circles in Nigeria and once again drew the attention on the obvious cracks in the preparations of the national team between keshi and his employers.
Keshi’s refusal to submit the list once again reveals the deep interest to foist some unfit players on the national team as we head to Brazil that is why he has deliberately shielded the team list from the scrutiny of the technical committee, pleading for time so that it may be late in the day to stop him from executing his personal vendetta on some big boys who have cried foul over his poor tactics and the ploy to retain some favoured but unfit players.
At a time other countries have finalized plans waiting for the end of the current European season to beckon in a matter of weeks so that team’s camp can be fully assessed over preparations, Nigeria is yet to know how all the official and unofficial friendly matches of the team will be handled. What information do we have about our opponents? Who among the technical committee will join in the monitoring of opponents for the technical crew? Which of the coaches will also play this role? What roles will be assigned each person? One worrisome aspect about the yet to be released list by Stephen Keshi is the fact that he has insisted that goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim be included in his squad despite serious outrage and opposition to that.
Agbim, a home based goalkeeper with Gombe United in the professional league was heavily criticized for his performance at the recent CHAN in South Africa.
His memorable blunder was letting a goal against Mozambique from almost 50 yards; Nigeria went on to finish third with Keshi standing firmly behind him.
The problem lies in the fact that Agbim may suddenly become the second choice goalkeeper at the World Cup if he eventually becomes a reality on the World Cup bound team even as the situation as present reveals that second choice goalkeeper, Austine Ejide is injured could be dangerous for the national team, God forbid!
What is the rationale for Keshi to invite some players who have since lost their place in the national team and never played any role significant in the qualification series on the road to Brazil 2014?
With speculations rife that the likes of Chinedu Obasi, Onyekachi Apam will be making a return to the national team, I just hope that Keshi will be able to justify his decision on this contentious issues of it eventually sees the light of the day.
It is rather unfortunate that every preparation of our national team over the years to World Cups has been dodged by controversies which have distracted the team and the present scenario is not just different.
The hide and seek game of the team list remains a new development and a strong strategy by Keshi who has once again shown utmost disrespect to his employers and perhaps an unencouraging leadership role to his admirers.
To what extent his strategy will achieve is yet to be seen, but it will be unfortunate to go to the World Cup with bench warmers, half baked players and tourists just to fulfill the selfish interest of some persons.
We must see the national team as a Nigerian project and that means we must all do our best to present the best players available to us.
The on-going exchange of words between Keshi and the NFF is uncalled for and Keshi should not be afraid of presenting his list for public scrutiny and should be bold enough to tell Nigerians why some players are obvious and favourite choices on his list.
We believe the NFF technical committee is made up of credible persons of proven integrity in football circles as the likes of Barrister Christopher Green, the Chairman of the Committee and Etubom Paul Bassey widely renowned in CAF and FIFA as this process has been regular in our preparations over the years even when we have won laurels for the country.
This edition of our participation at the World Cup should not be an exception for Keshi and he should realize like I have often stated that he is leading Nigeria as African Champions to the World Cup that is why we must, I insist, we must go to the World Cup with our best players as it is not a jamboree for spending hard earned tax payers money but a battle that will position nations as the best and a strong tool for political integration.
Keshi should realize that if he insists that his team list should not be considered, he should be ready for the consequences to sink or fly with the team and every responsibility of failure or success lies at his doorstep. There will be no excuses for his arrogance and technical ineptitude.
The road to Brazil for Nigeria at the moment remains stationary without a vision of our expectations and set targets and as we look forward to emerge from the ghost of South Africa 2010, the looming disaster at Brazil 2014 may just be another sad tale overwhelming the modest achievements we have gained in the last two years of Nigerian football.
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