Tag: keshi

Super Eagles chief coach, Stephen Keshi was not on hand to lead the home Eagles against their counterparts from Ghana in yesterday’s international friendly organized to officially declare the Uyo International Stadium open.

The Eagles coach was conspicously missing on the bench when both teams filed out from the dug-out for the pre-match formalities.

SportingLife made attempts to know the reasons for his absence from highly placed officials which naturally drew comments from those that were at the stadium. “My brother let us forget Keshi and concentrate on the match,” an official said.

Interestingly, the coach who was expected to join the team on Tuesday was spotted in the stands. He was casually dressed  and chewing gum, which is his trademark.

According to reports, the Eagles coach must have arrived the Southern state yesterday from Abuja where he had been attending to personal issues. In his place, first assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi took charge. Amokachi has been holding forte since the team reported to camp on Monday. But despite officials dodging questions, there are speculations that all was still not well between Keshi and his employer.

A close aide of the coach sighted by SportingLife however dismissed it.

“There is nothing to worry about. In 2012, if you would remember when the home based team played Egypt in Dubai it was Amokachi that handled the team. It was at that game that Keshi gave Amokachi the mandate to handle the team in his absence especially the home based players. So l do not think it is proper for people to draw insinuations,” said the aide.

He assured that the coach would be in charge for next week’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Congo in Pointe Noir.

Ahead of today’s friendly against the Black Meteors of Ghana at the Uyo International Stadium, Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi says he is hoping to discover some more talents from the league that can form the core of the main Super Eagles squad.

The home-based Super Eagles will host Ghana’s Black Meteors in a friendly to open the new Uyo International Stadium, with 24 locally based players already training in Uyo ahead of the match and Keshi has told sl10.ng that beyond the game being a friendly, he hopes to pick a few talents as well.

“We have some very good players in the league and we want to give them this opportunity to prove themselves. We have to create these opportunities for them and hopefully we will get a few of them for the Super Eagles like we have done before,” said Keshi.

“We were able to discover the likes of Azubuike (Egwuekwe), Godfrey Oboabona, Juwon Oshaniwa and few others and we hope to discover more of them and like I said they are good players, they just need these opportunities and also understand how we play, the tactics and all.”

Keshi started out as the Super Eagles coach in 2011 by making use of a large pool of home-based players and qualified Nigeria for the first time for the African championship (CHAN) where they came third.

Stephen Keshi was not part of the final training of the home-based Eagles ahead of today’s friendly against arch-rivals Ghana.

An official statement said Keshi has stayed away in Abuja to attend to “personal issues” but some yet to be confirmed media reports suggested he was still in Abuja to press for his unpaid salaries among other things.

In his absence, Assistant Coach Daniel Amokachi has taken charge.

At Thursday’s evening training that lasted almost three hours, the players were grilled on quick counter attack, fast breaks, robust defending and the need to avoid unnecessary infringements on the opponents.

Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi is expected in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State today to thinker the home based Eagles against their Ghanaian counterparts for the international friendly match to commission the ultra modern Akwa Ibom stadium.

According to the Big Boss, who stayed back in Abuja to meet with the leadership of the NFF and the Minister of Sports, said his major concern now is to thinker the Eagles to pick the maximum six points against Congo and South Africa , also successfully defend the trophy they won last year in South Africa.

Quoting him, the former international said “the friendly match is good to enable us see some more home based players, to see those that can be integrated into the main team. But our attention is well focused on the two AFCON qualifiers that would either make or mar their chances of going for the greatest tournament”.

Keshi, who was recalled after he was sacked by the leadership of the NFF after the Eagles struggled to beat the Falcons of Sudan last month, allowed his assistants of Daniel Amokachie and another returnee Sylvanus Okpala to handle the team pending his arrival today. We further gathered that the former NNB captain who left Abuja on wednesday to Benin city where he would connect Uyo today.

However, we further gathered that the meeting between the Coach and the Minister could not hold  because the Minister was not available. There is every possibility that the meeting may hold in Uyo.

President Goodluck Jonathan would lead his counterpart from Ghana and Ivory coast for the commissioning of the Uyo stadium which has been described as one of the best in Africa. The ceremony will hold on Friday.