Nigeria’s Brazil 2014 preliminary list to the mundial

A peep into Stephen Keshi’s preliminary list reveals a host of  the usual suspects,  that being the case, discussions are on those that did not make the cut for reasons such as loss of form, indiscipline and curiously inability to fit into the coaches’ tactical formation.

As ridiculous as it might seem, am left numbed when Keshi says to us that his reason for leaving IKE UCHE, of Villareal out of the squad was due to his inability to play to instruction and according to his tactics, which as absurd as it gets is tantamount to depriving the nation of one of its most prolific scorers this season (13 goals for villareal) and on a goals per cap ratio one of the highest. If Ike Uche could play in his primera liga team according to the dictates of his coach, I marvel at the justification for his exclusion. As an ardent supporter and believer in KESHI; sometimes am left to question some of his actions which to me border sometimes on the sublime to the mundane.

The exclusion of the likes of Brown Ideye and company is for me a positive as it is important to stress that NATIONS CUP and THE WORLD CUP are different competitions that require different mindsets and mentality. At the Nations cup, you require grit and a lot of physicality while, to prosecute the world cup, technique is much more important even though the common thread for both is the need for tactical Nous.

Osaze’s recall for me based on footballing reasons is justified but on the altar of Team spirit and camaraderie I beg to differ. In my opinion he has not shown any remorse and the world cup is not the stage to gamble on that as he might disrupt team dynamics and that will spell doom for espirit- de- corps. As for Yobo, am for it, as experience is important at the mundial. Ask ROGER MILLA for Cameroon with his exploits at ITALIA 90, you have to juggle, chop and change to seek for depth of squad.

Am waiting on the list of friendlies that Keshi will prosecute to draw out his final list but am a firm believer that we should use this mundial to announce our arrival on the world stage and improve on USA 94.A mundial that more or less defined us and heralded our arrival to the world stage but rather than improve on the gains thereafter, ineptitude has crept in and hopefully this will be an opportunity for another hope fulfilled rather than another hope betrayed.