Following reactions to the list of provisional players released by Stephen Keshi for the Brazil 2014 World Cup and their subsequent match against Scotland in London, last Wednesday, former national team captain and coach, Christian Chukwu, has called on critics to leave Keshi alone to do his job.
Chukwu one-time national head coach of the Kenya team hinted that Keshi knows his players better than any body, and therefore he should be left alone to do his job, adding that he would be the one to take the blame should they fail in Brazil.
“A lot has been said about Keshi and the release of the 30- Man provisional world cup list, I think it is time we put the matter behind us and move ahead, after all the final list is not yet out. As a manager of the team, he is more knowledgeable than any of us, he knows his players better than we do, and it is out of place for any person to describe the players he has invited to camp as bench warmers.
“The era of the FA dictating to the coach or giving a list of players to be invited is past. We are not going to play Kano Pillars or Nembe City fc, so our critics must be very careful and mindful of what they say. The World Cup is the highest pinnacle of football event it is not a place to test players, so if the coach has done his work and giving us a list of those he thinks are competent to make the squad so be it.
“On the other hand if he takes Mikel and leave out Obafemi Martins, he has his reasons for doing so. NFF has said they have no hand in it, so let us leave it there and stop raising unnecessary dust about it. England came out with their list; no body killed the coach for dropping some players. It is the coach that will take the blame should the team fail to deliver,” he enthused.
He however warn the players to give good account of themselves and avoid under rating any side, adding that countries coming for the world cup are coming for real business.
“Our boys must not be carried away by names, there is no longer small country in today football, for a country to have qualified for the world cup means that such a country has some thing to offer. So our boys must play their opponents strength for strength and man for man.
Any attempt to look down on any opponent will not mean well for us. People complain of our defense, the problem is not in the defense line up, but the attackers. We are not scoring more goals, what determine the result of any football match is the numbers of goals scored. Our strikers must improve on t6heir goal scoring prowess, that is the area we will have problems. Because if we meet a high goal scoring side, we might run into problems,” he said.
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