Stephen Keshi

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian football defender. He was also a football manager of the Nigeria national team. He was one of only two people, along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach. Considered to be one of the best center backs ever to emerge from Nigeria. He was known as tough defender with good positioning, and rocket shot which helped him score some great goals from free kicks. He wasn't some technician, but could deliver a quality long pass all over the pitch, but on the other hand, his short passes were mostly delivered to his closest teammate. His first touch play wasn't good at some time, and when he made mistakes during the game, they were mostly because of his poor first touch clearances and ball trapping. His positioning was definitely his asset, but occasionally happened to him that he position himself pretty well but then react poorly and miss interception or clearance. He was definitely a threat in the aerial duels. In 2006, he was named one of the "Top 200 African Footballers of the Last 50 Years" by the Confederation of African Football.

Playing career
Club
He began his football career in his native Nigeria, playing in the Nigerian championship for ACB Lagos and New Nigeria Bank. He then went to Côte d'Ivoire, where he played for Stade Abidjan and Africa Sport with the latter club, winning the national championship and the Cup of the country, after which he moved to Europe. Steven Kesha's first European club was Lokeren, which played in the second strongest division in Belgium. The following season, he moved to Anderlecht from the top flight, where he played for four seasons. With Anderlecht, he won the Belgian championship in the 1990/91 season, two runners-up (1988/89, 1989/90) and two Belgian Cup winners in 1988 and 1989. He played for Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League. From 1991 to 1993 he played two seasons for Strasbourg. The first season in the second strongest division, where Strasbourg became the winner, and the second season in the top division. Keshi then returned to Belgium, where he played one season for Molenbeek in the top flight. From 1995 to 1996, he played in the United States for semi-professional clubs from California CCV Hydra and Sacramento Scorpions. He finished his playing career in Malaysia with Perlis FA.

International
From 1981 to 1995, Keshi played football for the Nigerian national team. He made his debut on 18 July 1981 in the match against Upper Volta (1–0). Keshi was the captain of the Super Eagles for a time. In 1994 he won the Africa Cup of Nations with his homeland. That year, he participated in the World Championship for the only time. It was the first time Nigeria was allowed to go to the World Cup. Keshi was the oldest player in the national squad and also captain.

After losing the match in the eighth final against Italy (1-2) at the 1994 World Cup, he ended his international career with immediate effect. Keshi was bitter about the Dutch national coach Clemens Westerhof. "I wasn't drafted because I was critical. He wasn't a coach. He was a chatterbox, a chatterbox."

Managerial career
During his time in the United States, Keshi took a trainer's course. In 2004, he was appointed head coach of Togo. The country, which mainly counted on the qualities of striker Emmanuel Adebayor, could qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany under Keshi. It was the first World Cup participation for Togo, which meanwhile underperformed at the Africa Cup of Nations '06. Due to Togo's poor performance, the Football Association decided to replace Keshi with Otto Pfister. As a result, Keshi was not allowed to go to the World Cup.

Keshi also got into a heated argument with Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo's star player. Keshi felt that Adebayor was too preoccupied with his transfer to Arsenal. He even called the Nigerian-born forward "a crybaby" after Adebayor did not want to play in a match against Congo due to his mother's illness.

Pfister couldn't stunt with Togo at the World Cup. In addition, the group of players threatened to strike because the Football Association did not pay the salaries. In 2007, Keshi became head coach again. In the same year, Keshi resigned.

The former defender then went to work as Mali's national coach. But another poor performance at the Africa Cup of Nations led to Keshi's dismissal. On 2 November 2011, he was appointed head coach of his native Nigeria. He succeeded his former teammate Samson Siasia. On 16 November 2013, he and his country qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. After a string of disappointing results, he was sacked by the Nigerian Football Association in mid-October.

Death 
Keshi died of a heart attack on 7 June 2016 in Benin City, Nigeria, aged 54.

Honours
 Player 
New Nigeria Bank
West African Club Championship: 1983, 1984

Stade d'Abidjan
Coupe Houphoet Boigny: 1985

'''Africa Sports
Côte d'Ivoire Premier Division: 1986
Côte d'Ivoire Coupe: 1986
West African Club Championship: 1986
Coupe Houphoet Boigny: 1986
Anderlecht

 Belgian First Division: 1986–87, 1990–91
 Belgian Cup: 1988–89, 1989–90
 Belgian Supercup: 1987
 European Cup Winners' Cup: 1989-90 (runners-up) 
 Bruges Matins: 1988

Nigeria
Africa Cup of Nations: 1994

Manager
Nigeria
Africa Cup of Nations: 2013
 Confederations of African Football – African Coach of the Year 2013.

References

Category:1962 births
Category:2016 deaths
Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction
Category:Nigerian footballers