Former Nigerian internationals have expressed mixed feelings over the sack of Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Keshi.
They attributed the development of the strained relationship between Keshi and the Nigeria Football Federation shortly after winning the 2013 Africa Nations Cup in South Africa.
Mutiu Adepoju and Augustine Equavoen appealed to the federation to ensure that the sack does not affect the preparation for the 2017 Africa Nations Cup qualifiers.
Commenting on the sack, Adepoju said: “I was surprised to read the breaking news about his sack when I woke up this morning.
“Most people would think that it won’t happen now that they just signed a new contract even though there have been some issues on ground between him and the football federation.
“The truth is that I don’t know the terms of his contract and I won’t be able to say much.”
Adepoju equally spoke of its effect on the team.
He said: “I don’t actually know if the sack will have serious consequences but the fact is that it came when everybody was thinking that we have a coach to prosecute the qualifiers and move the team ahead is not too good.
“I want to think that the federation knows what they are doing and must have weighed their options towards ensuring that there is no vacuum.”
Asked to assess the Super Eagles Eagles under Keshi, Adepoju, said: “The fact remains that the Super Eagles lost its identity after failing to qualify for the 2015 Africa Nations Cup.
“We lost the respect so many countries have for us, resulting in most countries believing that Eagles are beatable.
“It is not really too good for the country.
“However, we should not also forget that we won the 2013 Nations Cup under Keshi, breaking the jinx of many years.
“In reality, many expected the continuity in rebuilding the team but it did not actually happen.
“This, climaxing in our failure to qualify for the last AFCON, I have to say, contributed to our low rating and loss of identity.
“My honest assessment of Keshi is at he really did well in his first tenure.
“As I said earlier, we can’t take away the fact that he won the Nation’s Cup.
“But after that there were a lot of crisis between him and the federation, resulting in the lack of stability within the team.
“I was expecting an understanding, stability and reliable players ready to deliver at all times after the trophy, but it did not come.
“It is very difficult to pin down at what point Keshi lost focus but all I know is that immediately after winning the Nations Cup, many issues cropped up.
“There were strong issues between him and the federation and since there is no understanding and unity, it was obvious that things can no longer work.”
Similarly, although the duo of Eguavoen and Garba Lawal declined comments on the issue, the former only appealed to the federation to handle the issues with maturity.
Eguavoen said: “I just want the federation to ensure that the situation will not degenerate more than this.”
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