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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESday, JUNE 24, 2015
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Don’t distract Super Eagles, Keshi tells NFF
Stephen Keshi
By Albert Akota
T
he Head coach of the Super Eagles Stephen Keshi has begged the officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) not to distract the team quest to qualify for the next edition of the Africa cup of Nation, saying that the whole inquiry thing is all a distraction. The Big Boss who stormed the NFF Glasshouse headquarters in Abuja at exactly 11:54 am and was immediately ushered into the conference room where he faced Barrister Chris Green-led Disciplinary Committee in an almost two hour meeting. speaking shortly after the two
hours meeting, Keshi said the whole issue is all based on gossip, stressing he is more concerned about hos his team will qualify for Gabon. “We thank God for the victory in Kaduna against Chad. Now I think what we should be thinking of is how prepared we are to face and win our away match against Tanzania, that should be our mission right now not what media said about keshi. “We need to change from all this little gossip and all these stuff, we need to go ahead and forge a formidable team which includes the press, the players, NFF so that we can conquer the world and conquer African Continent. My focus right now is to prepare for
the game against Tanzania.” Keshi however refused to comment on the outcome of the meeting, “Everything went well but NFF will talk to you on that but everything went well. Like you Guys just know I never applied for Cote d’Ivoire job.” On whether he applied for job in Ivory Coast, the former Super Eagles captain swiftly answered “No, My name is in almost every Nation. Should i take countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania to court. It happens to every coach, is not a big deal.” It would be recalled that NFF and Keshi have been at apparent running battle after his contract expired last year, a situation that delayed his contract renewal, one
year after. However, Keshi said that the allegation that he applied for the job of coaching Ivory Coast senior national team, the Elephants, was the work of his enemies who want him sacked from his current job. The news broke when the Federation Ivoirienne de Football, FIF, published a list of candidates that applied for the vacant managerial post in which Keshi’s name was listed as one of the only two Africans who applied for the job. Keshi, however, said that the allegation is purely the work of his detractors who want to divide and conquer, all in the bid to give the coaching job to their own candidate.
“They want to talk to me but let me talk to them first; I’m tired of all these Keshi do this Keshi do that. If they want to give the job to somebody else like they are planning, let them go ahead but they should stop destroying my name everywhere,” he said. The coach is scheduled to appear before a disciplinary committee of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to explain how his name was mentioned among the applicants for Ivory Coast job. Keshi signed a new contract in April to resume his role as gaffer of the Eagles after guiding the team to winning the 2013 AFCON title in South Africa and a second round finish at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.