He was the BIG BOSS
The 2013 Confederation of African Football coach of the year was larger than life
THE first time I stood next to Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, who reportedly died of cardiac arrest this week aged 54, I felt like a dwarf.
Then came the handshake from the man mountain who stood at 1.85m It was a firm, tight squeeze that would have elicited a squill or a wail from a wimp.
The grip was followed by that raucous laughter, pursued hot on its heels by the trademark “how are you my brother” greeting.
The meeting was in Cape Town. In 2014. Nigeria had just finished a match in the African Nations Championship (Chan), the poor cousin of the African Nations Cup.
We — Thomas Mlambo, David Kekana and myself — were doing an outside broadcast of the Sport@10 television show in the city.
Naturally we wanted Keshi as the guest on the show.
Graciously, and despite the fact that Nigeria had just been eliminated from the competition and he had numerous post-match media obligations to fulfil, the Big Boss agreed.
In an age when sports stars, no less soccer players, are consumed by their own hype and governed by their super-sized egos and sense of self-importance, he left an indelible mark on me, this larger-than-life legend of the game who had been there, done that and bought several T-shirts — made the time.
It is a humility Kalusha Bwalya, another luminary of African Football, will miss about on-field foe and off-field friend. Their careers always crossed paths.
Bwalya’s Zambia met Keshi’s Nigeria in the final of the Nations Cup in 1994. Both were captains of their countries and Zambia had a sensational run to the final.
“Keshi missed the final because of a knee injury ... but he lifted the trophy. Nigeria had a world-class player in every position and Keshi was their leader, the Big Boss.”
Their rivalry moved to the foreign fields of Belgium where their friend- ship was formed and firmed into a brotherhood bond of mutual respect.
This was helped by the fact that they were two of only five African players in Belgium in the mid 1980s. Bwalya’s countryman Charles Musonda was at Anderlecht.
“Keshi went to Lokeren and I joined Cercle Brugge. When we came up against each other, people told Keshi ‘this boy is dangerous, you have to mark him ...’
“Many people, especially the younger generation, know him as a top coach now, but Big Boss was a damn good football player,” said Bwalya. To go to Europe as a defender, at that time was unbelievable.
Keshi marshalled the defence with ease.
“He was very good in the air, read the game very well, was comfortable with the ball at his feet, left or right. The man played with authority.”
His passion to grow the game was not confined within the boundaries of his native Nigeria. Never shy to get out of his comfort zone, Keshi trekked to Togo to take charge of their national team in 2004. He guided Togo to their maiden qualification for the Fifa World Cup.
But Keshi never coached the team at the 2006 showpiece in Germany, thanks to the numbskull Togo football authorities who sacked him soon after securing qualification. Ever eager to expand his coaching horizons, he also coached Mali, qualifying them for Afcon 2010.
Because he was strong-willed and single-minded, Keshi had a snake and a mongoose relationship with the Nigerian Football Federation and an equally love-hate one with the Naija media.
“To be coach of the national team was written in the stars for him. But for some reason he had run-ins with Nigerian football authorities. One moment he is in charge, the next he is not. The media in Nigeria wanted to eat him alive. But he was calm and had the sympathy of everybody, a humble, gentle giant. True to his values. Some guys are born leaders and Keshi was that. He was when he was born.”
Having steered the Super Eagles to Nations Cup glory as skipper in Tunisia in 1994, as coach he charted their path to the podium as African champions on South African soil in 2013. By so doing he elevated himself to one of only two people in African football history — the other is Mahmoud El-Gohary of Egypt — to win the holy grail of continental competition as both a player and a coach.
Their rivalry moved to Belgium where their friendship was formed and firmed into a brotherhood bond of mutual respect