By Nnamdi Ojiego
Not
many people spared coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi when he likened his
boys to that of 1994 squad before the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations hosted
by South Africa. He was roundly vilified for daring to compared his
‘amateur’ team with the all-conquering 1994 set.
Keshi
had on Monday, January 14 in a chat with Supersport.com at the team’s
camp in Faro, Portugal said that, “many Nigerians don’t know how good
this team is. I see great potentials in them and they can go places,”
adding that “in Emenike I see a player who can be like Rashidi Yekini
and Godfrey Obaobona will grow in his position”.
2013 Eagles Squad
Shortly
after Keshi’s comment went viral, it was received with knocks from some
people including his former team mates. One of those that disagreed
with him is Peter Rufai. Rufai who manned the posts both at the 1994 Cup
of Nations and the FIFA World Cup said, “our ’94 squad was poles
apart.”
He
said although the present Eagles could boast of some talented
footballers, “they still cannot be compared with the team of our time.”
Rufai
recalled: “Remember, 1994 was not our first Nations Cup as some of us
had been in the national team since Libya ’82. We were in Cote d’Ivoire
’84, Egypt ’86, Maroc ’88, Algiers ’90 and Senegal ’92 before Tunisia
’94. You can see the difference. The present crop of players have to be
there for some time to be compared to our team.”
Apart
from experience, which Rufai said comes with time, the former
goalkeeper said, “during our time, we played a lot of matches, our
league was good and the competition for shirts in the national team was
stiffer. We went through a lot to get to the national team.”
He
noted that the Eagles preparing for the Nations Cup in South Africa
were an upcoming team that need encouragement and could not be compared
with 1994 set.
Even
Vanguard Online commentators were not left out of the debate. Majority
of them believed that there was no comparison whatsoever between the
present Eagles and 1994 squad.
1994 Eagles Squad
Note
that the ’94 squad won the Nations Cup in Tunisia(Nigeria’s second
after 1980) and also qualified the nation for her first World Cup in
USA’94.
The
1994 Super Eagles squad paraded the likes of Skipper Stephen Keshi,
Sunday Oliseh, George Finidi, Emmanuel Amunike, Austin Jay Jay Okocha,
Dan Amokachi, Austin Eguavoen, Peter Rufai, Uche Okechukwu, Uche
Okafor(late), Rashidi Yekini(late), Emeka Ezeugo, Aloy Agu, Ben Iroha,
Chidi Nwanu, Oliha Thompson, Samson Siasia, Mutiu Adepoju, Victor
Ikpeba, Efan Ekoku and Mike Emenalo among others.
The
present Eagles squad include the likes of Vincent Enyeama, Austin
Ejide, Elderson Echiejile, Juwon Oshaniwa, Joseph Yobo, Efe Ambrose,
Kenneth Omeruo, Godfrey Oboabona, Mikel Obi, Nosa Igiebor, Ogenyi Onazi,
Fegor Ogude, Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike, Brown Ideye, Victor Moses,
Ikechukwu Uche, Ejike Uzoenyi, and Sunday Mba, among others.
Note:
Keshi was quoted as saying when he described his team as
work-in-progress that what took the ’94 squad, which he was a part of,
five years to achieve took his boys only five weeks to do.
In
view of this, do you think Keshi has been vindicated? Can the present
Eagles in any way be compared with that of 1994 squad based on their
recent performance?
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