Keshi should remain as coach

Enyimba coach, Kadiri Ikhana, has said Stephen Keshi deserves to continue his job as the head coach of the Super Eagles.

Keshi announced after Nigeria’s 2-0 defeat by   France in the second round of the ongoing World Cup in Brazil on Monday that his time as Nigeria coach had ended because his contract was not renewed by the Nigeria Football Federation.

However, Ikhana said the former Eagles captain should have been offered a new contract to continue the work he started with the team.

“Keshi shouldn’t have resigned. He should stay with the team and improve on   what he had started to enable the country to compete well in future tournaments,” the Nigeria ’80 Africa Cup of Nations winner told our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday.

The ex-Nigeria defender added, “The team does not need a wholesome change. The midfield and the attack are the departments that need to be looked into. Our finishing is wayward and bad.

“You can see the number of attempts the French players had and we could not stop them from the midfield. Also, our attackers could not convert the few chances they created by the midfielders. The team needs sharp attackers.”

Ikhana, however, was of the view that the team would not miss the services of Joseph Yobo, who retired after the loss to France.

He said, “Nature does not create a vacuum. Once a person goes another will replace him. The team will do well without Yobo. He has paid his dues and deserves the rest he had taken from the team.

“The younger players must have learnt one or two things from him.”

Meanwhile, Keshi says he decided not to renew his contract with the NFF because of “the politics of managing the national team”.

“I am done. I have finished my assignment with the team. I have had enough of all the politics and games and intrigues of managing the national team”, supersport.com quoted the former Togo coach as saying on Thursday.

“My contract is up, no one asked me questions nor offered me a new one, which is a clear indication that I am not wanted, so there is really no drama. If they want me to put it down on paper I will get my lawyer to write to them.”

He added, “I really wish I could have had the players longer but due to the European season, it was not possible. The options available would have been to get them in batches which would not have panned out well. So we had to wait for the season to end all over Europe.

“We had only about two weeks and three friendly matches, which in all sincerity are not nearly enough to get the players into the state we wanted to have them by the start of the World Cup. So as a result, they started to pick up during the tournament.”