By Ben Efe
…As Onigbinde dismisses
critics
Stephen Keshi's 32 man
tentative list for the Nations
Cup 2013 is generating
discussions after top strikers
Obafemi Martins and Osaze
Peter Odemwingie were
overlooked.
But two former ex-
international Franklin
Howard and Mutiu Adepoju
have given pass marks to
coach Keshi even as they
expressed surprise at the
dropping of Obafemi and
Osaze, two players who are
currently in top form for
their various clubs.
"I don't know why he
dropped those two. But he
must have his reasons.
However, I believe that he
has enough fire power to
carry the team to the final of
the Nations Cup. As for Taye
Taiwo, I don't think he will
be missed, there are capable
replacements. I have faith in
Keshi that after the camping
in Faro, Portugal he will give
us a very good team from
the home based and foreign
based players," said Howard,
a former teammate of Keshi
during their Flying Eagles
days.
Also speaking was former
Eagles attacking midfielder
Mutiu Adepoju. He submitted
that Keshi has his reasons
for dropping the top players.
Super Eagles
Super Eagles
"There will always be issues
whenever a coach releases
his team list. Keshi cannot be
faulted, we can only wait and
see what he will come out
with after the camping in
Portugal," said Adepoju, who
also played with Keshi in the
Super Eagles.
Keshi had revealed that
Osaze was not willing to play
for Nigeria, but the West
Brom goal hero denied. He
stated that he was ready to
lace the boots for the Eagles.
It was gathered that his poor
relationships with previous
coaches of the national team
might have been responsible
for his omission. Obafemi,
despite a good run of form
for Levante, failed to impress
the coach in their friendly
against Venezuela.
On some criticisms that
greeted the provisional list,
Chief Adegboye Onigbinde
argued that anyone who is
not in Keshi's mind cannot
justifiably criticise him on the
players he invited or ignored.
"Anyone who does not have
possession of the tactics,
pattern and strategy of Keshi
does not have the
justification to criticise him
over this list," Onigbinde told
supersport.com
He equally dismissed
insinuations that the Illah-
born gaffer may have been
pressurised to invite some
players, adding that, "Even at
club level, coaches face this
kind of pressure so you can
imagine the kind of pressure
they will face at international
level.
"When I was coach of
Shooting Stars, I had a list of
'political players' but when
they proved themselves, I
drafted them into the main
side. If they didn't, they never
played. Yes, there are
pressures as a coach but it is
left to the coach to decide
how best to deal with such
pressures."
No comments:
Post a Comment