Keshi returning to the old brigade

Keshi used the home based players to prosecute the international friendly matches against Angola and the Lone Stars of Liberia. The home lads did not disappoint as they pulled 0-0 draw against the Palancas Negras of Angola before going on to defeat Lone Stars 2-0 before their home fans. The confidence in the team was […]

Keshi used the home based players to prosecute the international friendly matches against Angola and the Lone Stars of Liberia. The home lads did not disappoint as they pulled 0-0 draw against the Palancas Negras of Angola before going on to defeat Lone Stars 2-0 before their home fans.

The confidence in the team was however deflated when Keshi’s home boys lost 2-3 to the Pharaohs of Egypt in Dubai before the latest 0-1 loss to Peru in Lima. Although the coach brought in some young foreign players to complement the local players, the team could not survive the battle in Lima. After the match, Keshi did not hide his disappointment as he scolded the players for putting up a disappointing performance. Right there it was evident that when the chips are down, the local boys would pave way for the more experienced foreign players to do the business.

Even as he was not in the country, Keshi knows why his predecessor, Samson Siasia was kicked out. Nigeria did not qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. He knows the consequences if Nigeria would miss out on the 2013 AFCON and 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Nigeria’s first match in the Africa Cup of Nation’s qualifier against the Wasps of Rwanda did not give much hope. The Eagles team made up of predominately foreign based players struggled to draw 1-1. It was a result that left most Nigerian fans disenchanted.

Keshi must have seen the writing on the wall and that may be the reason for his decision to give more chances to some of the young foreign based players to come into the team. Had the home boys convincingly executed the last two friendly matches, maybe the sudden shift of attention from home based players to veterans like Vincent Enyeama and John Utaka wouldn’t have been the case.

In order to fortify the team for Sunday’s clash against the Brave Warriors of Namibia in Calabar, the coach has brought back regular faces like Vincent Enyeama, Ikechukwu Uche, Efe Ambrose, Elderson Echejile, Ekigho Ehiosun, Ahmed Musa, Austin Ejide and John Utaka.

A look at the list of foreign based players invited for the battle of Calabar shows that Keshi would like to hand the first team shirts to Enyeama, Utaka, Moses, Ikechukwu Uche, Ambrose, Ogunde, Echejile, Soriola and Musa. This will certainly take the team back to the status quo.

If this happens, the much talked about reign of the home based players would suffer a temporary setback as they would once again be consigned to the back seat. This would take us back to the days of Siasia when foreign based players were the preferred.

Furthermore, news emanating from the team’s camp in Calabar is that most of the foreign based players are not very comfortable with the harsh weather in the Canaan City but instead of rattle the coach, this should encourage him to give more opportunities to the home boys who are used to the weather.

Even if they do not see action tomorrow, Keshi will remain a hero among players like Papa Idris, Reuben Gabriel, Ejike Uzoenyi, Chigozie Agbim, Sunday Mbah, Izu Azuka, Azubuike Egwueke, Juwon Oshaniwo and a host of others because he gave them their break through.

Since no coach wants to be castigated for failure so Keshi will be pardoned for going back to the materials used by his predecessors but he must be able to maintain his previously defined stand on local players without losing track of the tickets to South Africa 2013 and Brazil 2014.