Acid Test For Keshi

Super Eagles Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi, will on Wednesday, 29 February, 2012, face his very first major challenge when he leads the squad against the Amavubi of Rwanda in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game in Kigali.

Since succeeding Samson Siasia as Super Eagles manager, the away match in Kigali will be an acid test for Keshi, owing to the fact that the encounter will mark the beginning of Nigeria’s trip to next year’s Nations Cup finals to be hosted by South Africa.

In terms of preparation, Keshi has spent about three months to raise the new look Eagles, with half of the 22-man squad assembled from the Nigeria Premier League, NPL, while the others were invited from Europe.

He has led the squad to play three international friendly games against African teams; Botswana, Zambia and Liberia. The former coach of Togo and Mali, managed a 0-0 draw against Botswana at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, Edo State, but defeated the Chipolopolo of Zambia 2-0 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna and recently pipped the Lone Star of Liberia 2-0 in Monrovia.

Of the friendly matches played, the victory against Zambia brought some excitement and anticipation to millions of soccer loving Nigerians who reasoned that the same Zambian squad beaten by Nigeria, went ahead to capture the 2012 Nations Cup trophy in Gabon two weeks ago.

We think it is too early for Nigerians to celebrate the team, because Keshi and his players have a high hurdle to surmount in Kigali. The first problem awaiting the Eagles is the hot weather they would face in Kigali, as the qualifier holds at 3:30pm in Kigali (1:30pm Nigerian time).

It is heart-warming to note that Keshi adjusted the last phase of his training programme to hold under the hot sun in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. But, it should be noted that only the home-based players will adapt perfectly to the Kigali weather, while the 11 foreign-based players who trickled into Abuja yesterday and today would not find it easy.

Moreover, knowing full well that the Eagles would have problem of blending, it is our firm belief that Keshi should be bold enough to use the bulk of his Home Eagles and pick a few of the foreign-based stars available for this important tie.

He should know that relying mainly on the foreign-based players could spell doom for the team, and he must also do his selection based on merit and not on ethnocentric sentiments.

Interestingly, Keshi’s job could be made easier with the availability of free scoring English Premier League duo of Osaze Odemwingie of West Brom and Blackburn’s Yakubu Aiyegbeni, as well as Ahmed Musa of CSKA Mosco, but the coach must know that his continued stay on the job depends on good performance.

Keshi should recall that Siasia lost grip of the Eagles because he had ego problems with the ‘Big Boys’ in the team. The new coach must avoid one of his predecessor’s major undoing, which was lack of adequate human relations management.

Keshi must ensure that he presents a technically balanced squad that have tactical discipline, while the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, must not interfere in his selection.

With his impeccable credentials, Keshi is expected to deliver the goods in Kigali. After all, he stunned the soccer world when he qualified an underrated West African country, Togo, to the World Cup in Germany 2006. So why won’t the versatile former Nigerian international do it for his fatherland? He has enough experience and we believe he is eminently good enough to pass this acid test in Kigali.