19th November, 2013
Chief Coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi, has poured encomiums on midfielder Ogenyi Onazi over the player’s exemplary performance in the international friendly match against world champions, Italy at Fulham Football Club’s compact Craven Cottage in London last night.
Onazi, who plies his trades for Lazio in the Italian Serie A, was a discovery of My People Football Club, a soccer outfit of Synagogue Church of All Nation, SCOAN, owned by Prophet T.B. Joshua.
Keshi expressed his pride at the performance of his charges in the 2-2 draw with Italy and singularly praised Onazi for being the playmaker in the friendly match.
According to Supersport.com, Bright Dike and Shola Ameobi got the goals that Nigeria’s play had merited, but Keshi, whose Eagles picked the ticket to play in the 2014 World Cup on Saturday, paid glowing tribute to the form and general play of Synagogue’s boy, Onazi.
“A lot of people asked me questions why I believed so much in him when I called him into the squad. He has come on greatly in the last one year I have to say, always improving, always demanding for the ball, showing for teammates in trouble and showing high tactical awareness in the heat of the battle. Like many of his teammates he is only going to get better,” Keshi said.
It was a friendly but the match was played at such intensity and pace one would have thought there was a trophy or points at stake. What has the coach learnt from this game going into the world cup?
“For me it is more about my players getting more confident and being able to express their obvious abilities against the so called big football nations. It is something I keep trying to pass across to them that when they are on the field, they are as good as the opponents sometimes even better. We will not be hiding in Brazil I promise Nigerians that.”
Meanwhile, former Eagles’ coach, Christian Chukwu has commended the Nigerian team for holding the Azurris, who are four time world champions, to a draw. Chukwu, who is a member of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Technical Committee, however, called for more top friendly matches to be arranged for the team ahead of the World Cup next year.
“I am impressed with what our boys played against the Italians. They showed that we can compete with the best at the world stage. I hope they will get to play more Grade A friendly matches before the Mundial to boost their confidence and also show us where we need to make adjustment,” Chukwu said.