Out of favour Super Eagles midfielder Nosa Igiebor says former coach of the Super Eagles Stephen Keshi dropped him from the starting lineup at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations for political reasons.
Mba started Nigeria’s first two games at the 2013 tournament won by the Super Eagles but he was dropped for Sunday Mba after the second group game. Mba ended up becoming the hero for Nigeria when he scored the lone goal against Burkina Faso that handed Nigeria the trophy.
Speaking on what lead to his axing from the starting lineup seven years ago, Igiebor said the decision was more of a political one than that of ability because it was complains from some players that made the coach to drop him.
He said the decision to drop him however paid off as Mba ended up as one of the revelations of the tournament but he feel he could have also done same if he wasn’t politically dropped from the starting lineup.
“To be honest they are some things I don’t want to talk about. Somethings are best left unsaid and it’s not something I want to say on air because I will bring too many names into it”, he told Brila Fm.
” At first what happened in the first two games, somebody in the team complain to the coaches that I am pushing the ball too quick to the strikers that he want us to keep possession a bit but we have strikers like Emmanuel Emenike and Ahmed Musa who keep on telling me to play early passes to them and that I was doing.
“This same person kept on complaining that I was making them lose possession and the coaches had no choice but to drop me and same person said he want to play with Sunday Mba in midfield. That was how I was dropped from the team.
” They took me out from the team not because Mba is better than me but it was politics and it worked for the team. You can see the same Mba did not go to the World Cup in Brazil , why was he not taken to the World Cup? Same politics and you know it”, he concluded.
Osas Mahawi
