Football enthusiast and managing director of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), Prince Dr. Henry Okafor, has sounded it loud and clear that Stephen Keshi-led Super Eagles performed below expectations, culminating in their second round ouster in the ongoing Brazil 2014 World Cup Finals.
This, he said, was because the team failed to win their crucial matches when it mattered most, irrespective of the claim of the coach that he went to the Mundial with quality players.
“If you don’t win matches, the quality of players becomes useless. Again, some Nigerians believe the boys played well against Argentina and France but felt inferior against them. But I disagree with them. We should not say we played well in these matches because we did not win. We have players who play in top European club sides alongside those they met in Brazil. So, they should not have felt inferior in their midst. Honestly, I do not agree that they did well,” he opined.
Prince Okafor also spoke on the not-too-clear position of chief coach Stephen Keshi on the Super Eagles’ job.
According to him, “If Keshi says he wants to resign, he should go ahead and resign. But if he has interest, he should remain. He is a good coach, but there is one thing I don’t like about him. If he knows that he has a player that is indisciplined, he should try and appreciate his good qualities. But his problem is that he would like you to remain a ‘reverend father’ in his team. Assuming that Suarez and Ballotelli were Nigerians, would he have dropped them from the team when they are being chased by different teams? Ike Uche whom he dropped, for me, is not a stubborn player. He probably must have asked him to play his (Keshi’s) pattern which was difficult. There are players like that but that does not require dumping them. Ike Uche’s absence really affected us in Brazil. Keshi should change this style of dumping players and tagging them “indisciplined”.
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