Sunday Dare, the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, has called on the Super Eagles to win their Africa Cup Of Nations Round of 16 clash against Tunisia on Sunday to honour former captain and coach of the team, Stephen Keshi.
In a message to the team, the Minister urged the squad to celebrate Keshi, who would have been 60 on Sunday, with a good performance and victory against the Tunisians.
“Keshi was one of the greatest icons of the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and coach in Nigeria. He would have been 60 on Sunday if he was still around with us. We can celebrate him posthumously with another good performance and a sweet victory in our round of 16 game against Tunisia in Garoua, Cameroon on Sunday,” Dare said.
Keshi, fondly called Big Boss, won the 1994 AFCON hosted by Tunisia and as a head coach in 2013, making him one of only two people to achieve the feat, the other being Mohammed El Gohary of Egypt.
He also won silver at the AFCON in 1984 and 1988 as well as a bronze medal in 1992.
He and present Eagles coach, Augustine Eguavoen, were team mates in 1988 and 1992 while the goalkeeper coach, Alloy Agu, was in the 1990, 1992 and 1994 teams.
Keshi won the 2013 AFCON in South Africa with current Captain Ahmed Musa and defender Kenneth Omeruo while Joseph Yobo who is an assistant coach in the present set up was the captain of that team.