Maigari: NFF is behind Keshi

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Alhaji Aminu Maigari has dismissed insinuations that the Federation is putting undue pressure on Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Stephen Keshi.

Some media (not Trustsports) have, in the past 24 hours, been awash with stories of purported interference in the work of Coach Keshi by some persons in the NFF, including Chairman of Technical Sub-Committee, Barrister Chris Green, particularly with regards to Big Boss’ selection of players for Jumbo June World Cup and Nations Cup qualifying matches.

But Maigari decried the insinuations yesterday, saying that the NFF can only support Keshi and the group at this very crucial period that the team is preparing for a rash of critical matches.

“The only thing NFF as a Federation can do at this period is to give Keshi and the entire team all the necessary support. That is what we are doing. I have not called for any inquisition into what he is doing or how he picked players for the upcoming matches, and I can assure you that nobody is doing anything like that.

“Of course, there is corporate desire and ambition for the Super Eagles to do well in the matches against Namibia, Malawi and Rwanda. But we are not coaches and there is a limit to the moves that we can make.

“There is someone we have signed a contract with to deliver the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2013 African Cup of Nations tickets, and we have a responsibility to allow him to do the job the way he knows best and simply give him all the support that is necessary and germane,” said Maigari.

Keshi, who captained the Eagles for 11 years, leading Nigeria to her first FIFA World Cup finals in 1994, signed a four-year agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation in November 2011, with the understanding that he would qualify the team for the 2013 African Cup of Nations and the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.

The Eagles have, under Keshi, played a total of seven matches, winning two, drawing three and losing two, including last week’s international friendly away to Peru in Lima.

On Sunday, at the U. J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar, the Super Eagles host Brave Warriors of Namibia in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, African Series Day One, with the team flying out to Malawi on Thursday for a Day Two match against the Flames in Blantyre on June 9, and immediately returning home to play Rwanda’s Amavubi in a 2013 Cup of Nations qualifier also in Calabar on June 17.