I selected all players myself—Keshi

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has spoken on the prepared list for the Super Eagles, insisting he was not arm-twisted by members of the Nigeria Football Federation to include or drop any player. The list of the players for the Brazil 2014 World Cup camping is expected to be released today (Tuesday) after the meeting between the NFF Technical Sub-Committee and Keshi in Abuja.

Keshi, who spoke in Abuja on Monday, said he had a free hand from the NFF to select the best players for the World Cup, but he was not averse to taking advice from well-meaning Nigerians on squad composition.

He said, 

“The NFF is our parent body and should be concerned about team composition for the World Cup, because the body is made up of well-meaning Nigerians. But to be honest to Nigerians, nobody in the NFF has come to me to say pick player A or B. They respect my job as the head coach and I respect them as my employers and there is no clash of interest.”

The much awaited Eagles provisional list could be finally released today (Tuesday) after the meeting. The federation General Secretary, Musa Amadu, confirmed to The PUNCH on Monday that the meeting would hold as scheduled.

“They (Technical Committee and Keshi) will meet as scheduled; no doubt about that,” Amadu said.

The meeting should be the last before the list is sent to the world governing body, FIFA, in Zurich. FIFA has set May 12 as deadline for the submission of provisional list by teams. The last attempt to produce a list for the Nigeria team to Brazil 2014 failed as the Eagles coach and the Technical Committee failed to agree on the tentative list tendered by Keshi. After several hours of meeting, the NFF officials told reporters in Abuja that Keshi had been asked to do further consultations with his players in Europe and be certain of those that are fit for the call up.

On Monday NFF president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, also said the federation had allowed Keshi to draw up the list himself as they had done in the past.

“The focus as I always say should be on a good outing in Brazil not needless controversy,” Maigari said.

Persons aware of the details of the last meeting said that there was argument over the inclusion or exclusion of certain players with striker Ikechukwu Uche and goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim topping the list.