Moses, Mikel both score as Nigeria take care of business against Algeria in World Cup qualifying
Today’s performance from Victor Moses in Nigeria’s 3-1 win over Algeria should put to rest any bit of consternation surrounding his commitment (or lack thereof) to the national team left over from the last international break.
The Chelsea wing-back, deployed in his more traditional winger role alongside Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho in attack, took advantage of being a bit closer to goal by scoring twice and winning Twitter’s consensus for Man of the Match. From the first minute to the last (check out his almost successful attempt to replicate Hazard’s second goal against Everton in the 7th minute!), Moses was full of running, drive, and determination — continuing his great form for Chelsea for the Super Eagles.
There were strong performances from others as well, including 21-year-old midfield dynamo Oghenekaro Etebo, whom we might remember from this summer’s Olympics, and of course captain Mikel John Obi, who also managed to score thanks to some hilarious defending from the visitors. Not even Mikel believed that he was onside, but he definitely was.
Chelsea loanee Kenneth Omeruo played as well, getting just over an hour at right back, which is not his best position. Algeria were perhaps unlucky to not score more than just the one goal, but with both defenses capable of conceding at any moment, their finishing lacked the cutting edge of Nigeria’s.
After a couple years of mixed results and upheaval at the football federation, which saw them fail to qualify for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria seem to have righted the ship and are looking good at the moment to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. It’s a long way to go still of course, but they already have a four-point lead at the top of the qualifying group after just two games.
Keshi Legacy: The Ultimate Inspiration
Goal.com – By the time the final of the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations came around, Stephen Keshi had been with the national team 13 years. Injury had robbed him of a spot in the squad in 1980 that won Nigeria ‘s first-ever continental trophy inside the Mainbowl of the National Stadium, and he had been part of twin final losses to arch-rivals Cameroon, in 1984 and 1988.
Yet, when he felt a twinge a few days to the title match against Zambia, there was no hesitation. Asked by Clemens Westerhof why he was opting out, Keshi shrugged, “Look, I’d love to play, but this [is] a final.”
It was an expression of deep humility, but also one of trust in the team he had captained for so long. In an interview with Complete Sports’ Mumini Alao, the Big Boss recalled the listlessness of the Super Eagles in his absence during a World Cup qualifier against Ivory Coast in Lagos.
“I decided, from then on, that I would manage the knee [injury] until we qualified,” he said.
“I was playing every game with three or four [pain-killing] injections, just to calm the pain. And we made Nigerians proud, they had suffered enough. It was time.”
To go from this to willingly sitting out a final was a huge turnaround, and displayed aptly one of Keshi’s greatest strengths, both as a player and coach: the ability to gauge the mood and maturity of his team.
When, for instance, a second-place finish in Group C saw his young, mostly workmanlike team paired against perennial Cup of Nations favourites Ivory Coast in Rustenburg in 2013, he recognized instead the easing of expectation on the Super Eagles. They produced one of the all-time great performances by a Nigerian national team in a tournament setting, winning 2-1.
Austin Eguavoen would captain the 1994 side to glory that day in Tunis, and while he deferred to his captain when it came time to lift the old Unity Cup, there must have been something of a vacuum unfilled in the Big Boss.
The theme was repeated at the World Cup in USA, Nigeria’s first. Keshi would start only once, injuries again playing a part, and was cut from the team on the eve of the historic clash with eventual finalists Italy in the Second Round. With all these caveats to his time as captain, it was almost amusing to hear him admit he had never intended to remain in football after his playing career ended. As though destiny would have allowed such a thing.
It took 20 years, but redemption came
First, his unfancied Super Eagles grew in stature and boldness en route to claiming a third Afcon crown in South Africa in 2013, and then he matched Westerhof’s finish at the World Cup, the grandest stage of all. The best part: he lived every minute of it. His celebration after the final whistle in the final in Johannesburg, arms splayed out at an obtuse angle, rather than the impassioned reaction of a man who had just presided over a first Afcon triumph as coach, was understated, almost in acknowledgement of the inevitability of it all. Of course it was a script, and of course this was how it was intended.
Passing on so young, aged just 54, it is nevertheless undeniable that the Big Boss fulfilled his potential in all respects, and arguable that he is the finest Nigerian footballer of all time. As with most larger-than-life characters, some areas of their personality go a bit under the radar. His influence on Nigerian football was absolute; as a long-standing captain, he was a bridge from the past into the present era of player-power – albeit mostly positive – and an inspiration to younger players coming into the team. Would Westerhof, at heart confrontational and abrasive, have been as successful with that team as he was? It is hard to tell, but one wonders now.
Yet, to look at Keshi in this way distracts somewhat from his ability as a footballer. There is a temptation consider him some sort of amiable father figure, whose duties were mostly ambassadorial. Nothing, however, could be more misguided; if a fine club career in France and Belgium does not convince as to his footballing merits, then consider his winner against the hosts at the 1992 Afcon in Senegal. It was an isolated moment, but that run forward, the presence of mind to call for the pass from Mutiu Adepoju, and the emphatic finish with his weaker foot were a brilliant demonstration of what Keshi was about.
He possessed a brilliant range of passing as well from the back, often sweeping diagonals out to the flank, sometimes with the outside of his foot, almost in casual acknowledgement of his own majesty. His partnership with Uche Okechukwu, who would captain the team after him, remains to this day the finest Nigeria has ever produced.
Passing on so young, aged just 54, it is nevertheless undeniable that the Big Boss fulfilled his potential in all respects, and arguable that he is the finest Nigerian footballer of all time.
Rather more curiously, his coaching career also gets somewhat lost in the shuffle. Inspiring an unremarkable, quotidian group to continental glory in 2013 was truly amazing, but undoubtedly his greatest achievement in the dugout came in 2005. It is perhaps lost on many just how big an achievement it was to qualify Togo, a tiny nation of under 10 million people, sandwiched eel-like between Benin and Ghana, for the World Cup.
Much of the attention went to former Arsenal and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who top-scored, but throughout the series, Keshi wrung consistent, decisive performances from the likes of Cherif Mammam Toure and Mohamed Kader Coubadja. Following an opening loss to Zambia, that Togo team went nine games without defeat, culminating in a 3-2 away win in Congo after going behind twice.
The in-fighting that followed left a bitter aftertaste, but there can be no forgetting just what Keshi’s coaching career was about, both with Super Eagles and with the Hawks: alchemy. It is safe to say that, having given over and above what was necessary over a glittering playing career with the national team, the Big Boss knew a thing or two about extracting maximum value, even from the basest metals.
His legacy is hard to put in words, but he inspired absolutely. In 1994, Emmanuel Amuneke, having failed to start a game up until that point, struck twice in the final to deliver the Afcon title. In 2013, an unknown, unheralded left-footer named Sunday Mba decided the final. His career never took off after that, but under Keshi’s tutelage and trust, he looked genuinely world-class for a brief period.
This, more than anything else, is the measure of the man.
