Sport: Avoid past mistakes, Shofoluwe, Ekpo tell Keshi

Ex-Nigeria internationals, Yisa Shofoluwe, Garba Lawal and Friday Ekpo, have advised the Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, to be careful and avoid past mistakes as he begins a fresh spell as the national coach. After months of controversy, Keshi signed a two-year contract with the Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday and has the immediate task of leading the Eagles in the qualifiers for the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, which will start in June. While Lawal and Ekpo agree that Keshi should review his previous outings as Eagles’ coach and correct his mistakes, they differ slightly in the approach he should adopt in selecting players. Lawal said, “Keshi has to be careful because he made some mistakes before. This time around, he has to invite the players that are playing week-in-week-out in Europe. It is easier to work with such players. “We know about Egypt already, but we are not used to Tanzania and Chad. The games are going to be difficult, so they need to be focused.” Ekpo said, “Now Keshi should evaluate himself based on things that were not properly done in his last tenure and start from there to build a strong senior national team. He should build the team from home. If you look at clubs in the top European leagues, you won’t find more than five Nigerians playing in their first teams. “If we don’t have regulars in Europe, we cannot build the team around them. We have players at home who play every weekend and are in form. He needs to start with the players in the Nigerian league and then bring in a few Europe-based players to make up a solid team.” Lawal however said owing to the urgency of the AFCON qualifiers, Keshi should not focus on developing home-based talents. “We want quick action. We are late; we can’t be developing a team at this moment. He should get players who can give us results now,” he said. On his part, Shofuluwe said, “We cannot afford another failure at any level of competition. Keshi should know that the work of a national team cannot be done alone. He should listen to advice and heed to the ones that will help the team achieve set goals. “Every coach makes mistakes and the best way to learn is to avoid those mistakes you had committed before. Everyone wants the success of the Eagles, so Keshi should start work immediately to make people forget the pains of the past months.” Regarding his relationship with football authorities and other stakeholders, Ekpo advised Keshi to temper his ego. “He should be humble, submissive, and ready to learn. He can only be ‘Big Boss’ in his house. Outside his house he is not Big Boss,” he said.