Keshi No Longer Useful – Semitoje

Isaac Semitoje has joined the roll-call of football personalities in the country calling for Stephen Keshi to step down as Nigeria coach. Keshi has come under fire since the Super Eagles failed to qualify for next month’s Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. With the Nigeria Football Federation being evasive whether Keshi’s contract would be extended, and the former Togo manager keeping silent over the issue, there has been a widespread debate over his future with the national team. Reports claiming the Presidency is insistent on the former Anderlecht star retaining his job seem to have added fuel to the flames with some sections of the media calling on the NFF to resist the alleged move. Three of Keshi’s predecessors Adegboye Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu and Shaibu Amodu last week urged the former Nigeria captain to quit the job. And former Nigeria defender Semitoje during the week joined the chorus of voices asking Keshi to step aside to “save himself from further embarrassment”. “He (Keshi) should quit since many Nigerians are no longer interested in his services,” the former Iwuanyanwu Nationale captain, who won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Keshi in Tunisia, told our correspondent on the telephone from Denmark. “I think the NFF believes he’s no longer useful to the national team. He should save himself from further embarrassment and move on. “He should leave now that some people still regard as a hero, rather than being disgraced out of the team and his achievements rubbished. “Many Nigerians are grateful to him for winning the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa last year and helping us qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, and reaching the second round of the tournament.” “If it’s true that the Presidency wants to force him on the NFF, I don’t think the people there will cooperate with him – since he will be working with them. They will frustrate his efforts. It’s better for him to leave the team for another job. “Keshi deserves respect from the media and fans but he should go now. Coaching the national team shouldn’t be seen as anyone’s birthright.” The Algiers ’90 Africa Cup of Nations silver medallist, who lamented the Eagles’ failure to qualify for Equatorial Guinea 2015, blamed the crisis in the NFF for the development. Semitoje said, “The NFF should take a large part of the blame. They were fighting over positions and abandoned the team during the qualifiers. “The NFF should be working to develop the game in the country. The NFF has become a place to amass wealth, aside from the Presidency and the National Assembly. “It’s a shame our league has been abandoned by fans. We are no longer producing quality players for the European market because corruption has destroyed the country.” The former Julius and Glostrup FK player added, “I won’t blame Keshi much for our failure to make it to Equatorial Guinea because the players disappointed. “If our players were committed, the Eagles wouldn’t have drawn their last game against South Africa (2-2 in Uyo on November 19). “We had no business losing (3-2) to Congo in Calabar and Sudan (1-0 in Khartoum) if our players were serious. “We should go back to the drawing board to save our football.” Source:PUNCH.