Keshi Shocked Over Osaze’s Omission!

Posted: May 20, 2011

Former Super Eagles captain, Steven Keshi, has expressed shock over the decision of national team coach Samson Siasia to exclude in-form West Brom Albion of England forward Osaze Odemwingie from the squad that will prosecute the international friendly against Argentina on June 1 and the all-important Africa Cup of Nations qualifier away to Ethiopia on June 5.

 

Keshi admitted that Siasia is indeed in charge of the Super Eagles and has the absolute right and power to instil discipline in the team at any given time and at whatever level.

 

But he was not pleased with the idea of leaving out the 15-goal West Brom striker in a match as crucial as the Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia, insisting that there could have been other ways of handling the situation which could not rob the nation of the services of the striker at this crucial stage.

 

“Osaze not listed for the match? Oh my God,” screamed Keshi when Complete Sports sought for his views on the 24-man list released by Siasia for the two matches.

 

“Despite his current shape? What reason did he give to drop him? That he left camp after the Ethiopia game in Abuja the last time?

 

“Well. I’m an apostle of discipline, no doubt about that. But then Samson is in charge of the team and should put his foot down.

 

“But on matters like this, there could have been other ways around it. As national team coach, you are like the father in a family. You should know the characters and mentality of your children. When one of them errs, you should know how to get him around without hurting others too.

 

“In this Osaze case, I expected that he would call the player, sit him down and ask, why he did what he did. On the other hand, you can slash a bit of the player’s allowances while still having him in the team without depriving the nation of his services.

 

“No doubt money is not a problem to the (foreign-based) players. But they love every bit of the kobo they get. So when you cut his allowances as a result of his conduct, he will feel it and that will make him change. My concern is not the match against Argentina. The South American team are coming here for their money. So win or lose, it makes no difference at all.”