Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, admitted on the eve of his side’s semi-final clash against the Aiglons of Mali that he has been having selection headache since he first picked up the job of coaching Nigeria, but it is even at a boiling point now that the team is on the verge of qualifying for the final of the Africa Cup of Nations 2013.
The return of Norway-based Fegor Ogude, from a match suspension, means that he has to battle Ogenyi Onazi for the midfield role after the Lazio of Italy man put up a yeoman’s performance in the quarter final duel against Ivory Coast.
“It’s been tough and I always have this headache of selection but with Fegor back, it’s going to be tough picking who to start but by Wednesday we shall see who starts,” Keshi said at the press conference preceding the tie.
The Big Boss, as Keshi is fondly called, also took a swipe at mediocre foreign coaches that are often hired by football federations in Africa and reiterated his call for a stop to be put to it.
He said: “If we hire a quality coach from Europe that we can learn something from, I won’t have issues with that but when they come from the backyard and parade themselves as expatriate coaches when they don’t know what ex-internationals like us know then I am against it.”
Also on Tuesday, NFF President, Aminu Maigari, along with Technical Committee Chairman, Christopher Green, was at the Eagles last training session before its semi-final game to motivate the team ahead of their semi-final clash against Mali.
A calm looking Maigari refused to address the players ahead of the tie on Wednesday but is expected to return at lunch time on Wednesday to give the team all the motivating talk as has become traditional ahead of crucial games of the national team.
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