Ministry, NFF move to vet Keshi’s list

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi
culled from Punch

The poor finishing of the Super Eagles against Spain at the FIFA Confederations Cup on Sunday has turned the Sports Ministry and the Nigeria Football Federation officials against Stephen Keshi.

The PUNCH learnt on authority that the officials are specifically curious about Keshi’s interest in certain players whom they say he has continued to take to tournaments even when it is obvious their current form suggest they are not good enough for that level of competition.

An official of the Ministry of Sports who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Monday said the Ministry and the NFF will no longer close their eyes to what their investigations have linked to “very personal” plans of the Nigeria coach.

The official said, “When Keshi came on board the general agreement was to build a team afresh which was the right thing to do having missed one African Nations Cup, but we have passed through long enough period and by every reason should have reached a much higher level than we are now.

“We are still experimenting for only one reason and that is purely because of what the coach is doing. Keshi appears to be encouraging certain players for purely personal reasons. Take the Confederations Cup as a typical example and you will understand that many of those listed in the team had no business being there. You cannot say you are exposing players to the detriment of the country; players that have not even reached the level of African Nations Cup were instead thrown in to play against world champions Spain.

“We are no longer fooled on this matter and we have to take more interest in the players that represent Nigeria. This is a national team and not a private team. He has to get the Nigerians we know are in better state to feature for Eagles rather feature players nobody knows the clubs they are playing for.”

But even as those in Abuja fume over Keshi’s selections, the former Nigeria captain has no regret over his choice of players to the competition ongoing in Brazil. On Monday, Keshi said via his Twitter handle, that his team was still in the building stage.

“It’s a learning process for us, we just have to continue what we started last night and build,” he said of the game against Spain on Sunday. Eagles were beaten 3-0 to crash out of the competition.