Nigeria football: Where did Keshi got it all wrong after AFCON victory?

At this point Super Eagle’s head coach Steven Keshi must have realise that he is not to be weighed in the same scale as the Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Diego Simeone, Louis van Gaal and some of the great managers in the world, even though he was placed at number 12 coach in the world after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the fact still speak against such ranking.

The head coach of Nigeria’s senior team Steven Keshi has discarded a good number of players that helped him win the Nations Cup. Even when the country is crying for the recall of the Uche brothers most especially the Villarreal maskman, the former Mali coach remains adamant and refuse to heed to the voice of the people.

Fire him! Fire him!! Fire him!!! That is the total calculation of Nigeria’s supporter on our timeline concerning the faith of Keshi after the latest mind disturbing 1-0 defeat by Sudan in the AFCON qualifier to rob sleep from the eyes of Nigerians and bring them back to the era of ‘calculator’, (permutation) trying to calculate their chances.

The 2013 AFCON winner has endured a sequence of habitual poor results after his heroics at South Africa – his scorecard reads five draws, 1 win and five losses, which has left the NFF and the entire Nigerians wallow in thought, whether the team is going forward or perhaps is a case of one step forward and ten steps backward.

One victory in eleven games is highly unacceptable in modern days football, when winning is the name of the game of football and coaches are constantly assessed by the results they churn out and not excuses.

Coaches are as good as their last result. Steven Keshi has been at loggerhead with his employers since winning the AFCON, which degenerated to the World Cup in Brazil concerning a lot of issues which amongst them is increasing his wages, probably ranking highest in the 51-year-old list.

It must be stated that Keshi remains the highest paid coach in the whole of Africa at $30,303 (₦5 million) per month and ₦60 million per annum and it is reported that the former Mali and Togo coach is asking for a 15% increase in his wage as condition to extend his contract with the NFF, which will take his monthly earnings to $121,212 (₦20 million) and ₦240m per annum which is not obtainable anywhere in the continent.

However, the Delta State born, Nigerian is not making a good case for himself after playing three games in the AFCON qualifiers: losing two and drawing one, which could cause the most populous nation in Africa a place in Morocco 2015 and the opportunity to defend the trophy they won in the last edition.

How did Steven Keshi turn from a hero to a villain? Is he still the right man for the Super Eagles of Nigeria? What does he need to do, to get the team back on track?