Managing a national side is the ultimate poisoned chalice. With fewer matches than club level, there is essentially only a small window within which to make an impression on an entire nation. Lose a game and you have to wait months for an opportunity to have another go. Win and there is no chance to build on that momentum; people forget. Bad occurrences evoke recollection more efficiently than good.
So it is that Stephen Keshi stands at a crossroads in his career as a coach. He has shone in management, guiding lowly Togo to qualification for its maiden World Cup appearance in 2006. This was even more remarkable because the Hawks pipped Senegal, who had excelled on the world stage only four years prior; averaged two goals a game and lost only once in ten games: away to Zambia in the very first qualifier!
The feeling that he was always going to coach the Super Eagles eventually was justified when Samson Siasia was sacked in the wake of that draw against Guinea in 2011. Again, he defied expectations by ending a 19-year wait for Africa Cup of Nations glory in South Africa 2013. His team famously vanquished perennial favourites Cote d’Ivoire in the quarter finals, in a wonderfully controlled performance, on the road to lifting the trophy.
Goal.com
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