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| Mathematical Segun Odegbami |
Segun Odegbami was arguably the best footballer of his generation..at his peak he was a match winner both for the IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan and the National Team,The Green Eagles as they were then known,he was also voted 2nd and 3rd in the African Footballer of the year polls.He retired at a young age though..i think he was 28 when he bowed out of International football and 3 years later from club football..it was a combination of a bad knee
injury and another reason he made known for the first time at the Tom Tom media roundtable in Abuja.
The 1980 Nations Cup winner , revealed that Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi quickened his decision to retire from playing football.
Speaking during the Tom Tom Editors Roundtable held during the week in Lagos, Odegbami, whose goals powered the then Green Eagles to Nigeria’s first Nations Cup title in Lagos, has also said that Keshi has lived to the expectations of Nigerian fans, by picking the Eagles reins when things were bad and taking them to the summit of African football, perfectly capped by the ACON 2013 success in South Africa.
Recollecting how Keshi and his teammates from the New Nigerian Bank of Benin made him to quit playing football, the former Shooting Stars legend said that “what people don’t know is that Keshi and Eguavoen contributed to my decision to quit playing football. I remember that they came to Ibadan and defeated the great Shooting Stars, scoring four goals. After the match, I said to myself that it was time to leave the stage before further embarrassments by these young guys”.
Speaking on Eagles chances at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Odegbami said that “Keshi has lived up to expectations and has made us to believe that we don’t need foreigners. I can say that Keshi, with all the facts and figure, has been the most successful coach of Nigeria. His only rival is his mentor, Clemense Westerhof and I see many similarities in Keshi and Westerhof.”.
Corroborating Odegbami’s view, Augustine Eguavoen, a 1994 Nations Cup winner in Tunisia, described Keshi as an inspirational person, who he haled as a great coach.
“Keshi has been inspirational to me and I believe to others. I took over as captain from him and I know his person. He is a great coach and I wish him and the team the best of luck in Brazil”, said Eguavoen.