(Lokoja)
Four years ago, the soccer community in Nigeria and indeed, the world over was struck, following the sudden death of a soccer legend, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, a man fondly called “The boss” in soccer sector.
Born on January 23, 1962 in Bauchi State, Nigeria,the soccer engma began his career as a football player between 1979 and 1998 and continued as a coach from 2001 till he died on Wednesday, June 7, 2016.
As a footballer,the late Keshi started playing professional football in 1979 in Lagos, moving from one club to the other before he got his first break outside Africa’s largest economy.
He moved to Abidjan in 1985 to play in their premier league before getting his big break in 1986. He was then spotted and signed by Belgian football club Sporting Lokeren in 1986, to ply his trade in Europe.
A year after his stint with Lokeren, Keshi was signed by Belgian premier league side, Anderlecht in 1987 and appeared 99 times for the club with 18 goals to his soccer dexterity untill he left to Strasbourg in 1991.
With Anderlecht, he won the Belgian Cup in 1988 and 1989 and then the Jupiler league in 1991.
Keshi continued his exploit in the world of soccer playing with other teams in Belgium till 1995 when he moved to California in the United States of America and played for smaller teams. Using one stone to kill two rats, he used that opportunity to train as a coach in 1996.
Keshi finally moved to Malaysia in 1997 to play for second division side Perlis, before ending his active footballing career as a player in 1998.
As a Super Eagles player, Stephen Keshi appeared 64 times for the Nigerian national team, Super Eagles, where he scored 9 goals as a central defender. He won the Africa Cup of Nations as captain of the team in 1994.
He contributed toward Nigeria reaching number 5 on the FIFA world ranking, highest for an African team at that time.
At the end of his coaching training in 1996 in the USA, Stephen Keshi got the opportunity to lead Nigeria’s Junior Eagles at the 2001 African Youth Championship.
He, however, started his major coaching career with Togo in 2004, helping them to qualify for the first time to the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
He was,however, replaced with Otto Pfister at the World Cup and then brought back after poor performance and controversies surrounding the Togolese team in 2007.
This seemingly set back in his career did not deter Keshi who struggled and got another coaching job in Mali in 2008 but sacked in 2010 after poor performance resulting in the team’s failure to progress from the group stage at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
He finally got the opportunity to coach his home country Nigeria in 2011, helping them qualify for the AFCON in 2013 which they won. But
Surprisingly,he resigned the following day but later changed his mind.
Some soccer enthusiasts who spoke to Duaglobalnews on the late Keshi in Lokoja, noted that Nigeria had lost one of its finest footballers and an accomplish coaches just as the they paid glowing tributes to his unique soccer exploits around the world.
