Keshi's Job On The Line, Vows To Quit If Eagles Lose To Liberia

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In a bid to revive Nigeria’s football fortunes after the senior men’s national team, the Super Eagles, failed to qualify for the 2011 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, on 2 November 2011, appointed former captain, Stephen Keshi as the coach to replace former coach Samson Siasia, to guide the country to the next Africa Nations Cup and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The 49-year-old’s contractual targets include to qualify Nigeria for the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa as well as the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he is expected to guide his team to at least the quarter-finals.

With just less than a year, the Big Boss, as Keshi is popularly called by his fans, has come under fire as his job as the chief coach of the Super Eagles is on the line.

Since Keshi has been appointed as Eagles coach, there was no significant improvement in the performance of the senior national team. Nowadays, Eagles struggle to beat lowly rated countries like Rwanda, Malawi and Liberia who give soccer loving Nigerians serious concern if the country flag will be hoisted come next year in Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Apart from unimpressive results Eagles recorded in some international friendlies that ranked the country 58th on FIFA Ranking, Keshi failed to convince Nigerians after his team played barren draw with Rwanda in Kigali in the first round of Nations Cup qualifying match.

The return leg was not too impressive as the two time Africa Champions struggled to beat unfancied Rwanda 2-0 to book a place in the last group Nations Cup qualifying stage.

When CAF drew Liberia with Nigeria in the last group qualifying stage, some of the stakeholders were of opinion that Eagles will beat their opponents home and away.

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Before Nigeria met Liberia last weekend, Keshi vowed to quit his job if he fails to qualify the country to next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. The former Anderlecht player said   he will not be asked to go should his team again fail at the last hurdle to reach the Nations Cup tournament proper.

“If I fail, I won’t wait to be asked to go. I will throw in the towel and move on,” Keshi was quoted as saying by Mtnfootball.com.

Keshi’s job is on the line now after his team played 2-2 with Liberia in last weekend 2013 Nations Cup qualifier played at Kanyon Doe Stadium in Monrovia.

Ordinarily, Eagles had the upper hand to seal victory in Monrovia but due to the lack of commitment and cohesion on the part of players allowed the hosts to equalize towards the tail end of the game.

Reacting to the lackluster performance of Eagles, Keshi slammed his players for their poor show against Liberia saying if they could not do more for their country, they ought to stay away.

—SUNDAY AKINTOYE

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