Uche out of World Cup, Keshi insists

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi appears to have shut the door on Ikechukwu Uche for the 2014 World Cup. Keshi, who had given a hint about his relationship with the striker soon after he released the squad list for the friendly match against Mexico, has maintained that the player lacked tactical discipline.

Keshi, who spoke with MTNFootball.com from his base in the United States, said, “Ikechukwu Uche is not a player I have not seen play. Ike Uche’s problem is not about not knowing how to play football. His problem is that he wants to dictate how we play in the Super Eagles; he wants to tell us that the system we’re playing is not good.

 ”Uche has a very bad habit; if you put him in a game, he will not play to instructions and he did that in the final of AFCON (South Africa 2013) against Burkina Faso; he almost cost us the game.

“Again he did that against Zambia, in the second match when (Efe) Ambrose was given a red card. He was doing the opposite of what we told him to do.”

A member of the Technical and Development Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation confirmed Keshi’s statement to The PUNCH. The member told our correspondent that Keshi’s stance on Uche was a major issue when the list for the game against Mexico was released, but the coach has refused to give the player a second chance.

He said, “Of course we asked about Uche when we discussed the list with him. As you know, he had already travelled and so defended via a conference call and said all that you  (our correspondent) have  mentioned now. He said Uche was a big distraction to the team going by the player’s attitude. As a matter of fact, after much talk on the player, he concluded that Uche’s problem was such that both of them could not be on the same team and so he has to coach the team to Brazil without Uche. But if he must play, then somebody else has to coach the team. It is that bad.”

The Spain-based player has been one of Nigeria’s most reliable goal scorers this season and has scored 12 goals this season for Villarreal. On Monday night, the striker returned to action after he was sidelined by injury for two weeks. He last featured for Nigeria in the final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations against Burkina Faso.

Keshi added, “And if you don’t respect your teammates and you don’t respect the team, then there is no point. I know he cannot do that in his club, then why do it in the national team?  I don’t think I need a player like that in the team.” Joseph Yobo who had been overlooked since February 2013, has been recalled for the match against Mexico.