Bright Dike devastated to miss AFCON

Bright Dike - Disappointed by shock snub Rabiu Ibrahim dropped
By MTNFootball.com Thursday Jan 10, 08:13 +0200
Portland Timber of USA forward Bright Dike has said he is very disappointed to be left out of the Eagles final squad to the AFCON.

Dike, who scored a spectacular goal against Catalonia in only his second cap for Nigeria, told MTNFootball.com he would have hoped to be in South Africa with the Eagles.

"I am disappointed not to make the AFCON final list, but I am thankful for the experience and opportunity, I was hoping to be at the tournament, that's soccer for you,” Dike told MTNFootball.com

“Now I am looking forward to the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and the tournament itself."

Dike, who is a cousin of Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike, has thus urged his international team mates to make Nigeria proud at the African soccer fiesta.

"I am urging my mates who made the team to represent Nigeria well. They should play wholeheartedly so that when the games are done, you are proud of the effort you have given and proud of what you have accomplished,” said Dike, who made a most satisfying debut against Venezuela in November.

“Good luck in South Africa and bring the Nations Cup back to Nigeria."

The power-playing forward disclosed he will now head back to his base in the USA, where he will join Portland Timbers ahead of the new Major League Soccer pre-season activities, which incidentally kick off on the same day the Nations Cup begin in Johannesburg.

Your Comments

4 comments
Report Abuse Posted by steve on Friday Jan 11 at 16:54 SAST

Listen guys Keshi fuc..ked up, his selection was poor and i see him regrating it.Dike is the best bet we have in achieving success at Afcon, because he did delivered when it mattered most.By removing Dike keshi have shown that his selection is not all about performance.By using homebase players that have under peroformed during friendly games , it shows that his mind set is always with those he will benefit from and not success for Nigeria. It is not easy getting strikers in Dike's mold, they come once in a while.This is a player that can single handedly win a match for you when you lest expected just like with the catalonia.Dike should have been in that team if keshi was wise enough to know that this Afcon is a do or die for his career but alas , he decided to please some Nff offfcials instead of doing the right thing , well time will tell.If you recalled , Mtnfootball.com published a "fake " list of our team three days to the time of submission and Keshi lied to us that it was not his list, unfortunately the difference between that fake list and what came out from later was the replacement of Raheem Lawal with Ideye. Sunday Mba and Ejike Uzoeyi is no match to Dike and dont i know why our coaches are so mayopic to see the light and listen to wise council.Against Cape Verde our strikers where over powered by the size of CV defenders because of thier small size and only strikers with the size of Dike could have performed better.Unfortun­ately most african defenders are big and no nonesense in thier appraoch to games.Now if Keshi was thinking of the success of Nigeria at AFocn and if the list was not bias then why werent Dike call up to play in the second half before ringing the final list? this is because they have made up thier mind about the list and the match was irrelevant to them .Dike could have score against Cape verde had it been he was dressed for the match and that would have jeopidise the list as composed by Keshi and Chris Green.Because Nigerians will insist on his inclusion no matter what may, it is just a pity such a patroitic fellow will be sacrificed due to corouption.I learnt Dike is a cousine of Emenike and therefore instead they have to sacrifice him .He is being praised now by some local caoches fo this act but he refused to understand that they will be the one that will seek for his head if he fails to perform at AFCON.Keshi should also note that if he fails no African country will touch him for any coaching job again.Since he decided to take a gamble , I wish Keshi well and if Nigeria did not win the cup he should be sacked and a foriegn coach hired,Enough of this Nigerian coaches and thier wicked acts!!

Report Abuse Posted by MMA FINISHUP the FINISHER on Thursday Jan 10 at 23:48 SAST

Dropping Dike was a
very rash decision.
I'm yet to
understand the
criteria Keshi used in
dropping him.
Honestly, I don't
know the type of
coach Keshi is. How
could he drop Dike,
who had shown
flashes of brilliance
and accuracy for
Emenike and others
who have not scored
for Nigeria since he
took over as coach.
The honest truth is
that, there are
players who are very
good in scoring for
their national teams
but cannot replicate
the same feat in their
clubs and players
who are good in
scoring in their clubs,
but find it hard to
score for Nigeria.
Many people were
still angry with Keshi
for excluding Osaze,
he went ahead to
exclude a new
revealation in the
team, in the person
of Dike.
I now have great
cause to believe, that
I am a better coach
than Keshi. Look at
the people he
paraded as our first
eleven in the first
half of our match
against Cape Verde.
Apart from Ejide,
Enyeama, Yobo,
Oboabona, Mikel,
Onazi and Moses, the
other five as
constituted in the
first half, were
supposed to be
confined to the
bench or in their
respective clubs.
When I saw the
starting line up, I
laughed. It was in the
second half, that
Keshi brought in
some players that he
should have long
introduced.
I'm beginning to
suspect, that in the
game against
Catalonia, Keshi
quickly substituted
Dike immediately he
scored, so that he
won't score more
goals and get more
endeared to Super
Eagles' fans.
Probably, Keshi
played Dike in that
match, to have him
messed up by Pique
and Puyol, but, the
guy lived up to his
billings. The goal Dike
scored was such a
wonderful and
difficult goal. If he
was not experienced,
skillful and accurate
enough, he would
have wasted that
chance. Only one or
two strikers in our
current 23-man list
could afford the
luxury of scoring
such a classic goal.
I suspect, the list
Keshi released was
predetermined,
because, the only
difference between
the real list and the
fake, was that
Raheem Lawal was
axed and Ideye
made.
Sincerely, I'm
beginning to
question the
capability of the
Super Eagles's bench.
How could they leave
brilliant players like
Osaze and Dike?

Report Abuse Posted by Abiodun Ogunyinka on Thursday Jan 10 at 10:23 SAST

Pls 9girians lets lev dat guy keshi wit all his tactics and c where he ll reach,dike out 4 emenike

Report Abuse Posted by ayodele okilo on Thursday Jan 10 at 10:05 SAST

rubish where is DIKE ?That scored the only against catalonia,you just make this man to commit himself to nigeria finish and you drop him,thank God tha Shola Ameobi did not even show up because he know what nigeria are up to.
look at this:
Ballon d'Or Winner 2013 (1-3)
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Andres Iniesta.

Fifa world team of the year
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Coach of the year (1-3)
Vicente del Bosque
Pep GUARDIOLA
Jose MOURINHO

ALL FROM/IN SPAIN/SPANISH LA LIGA -and keshi know all these and yet he drop martins who play in this kind of enviroment and he scoring,i think keshi didnt know the potential in spain now you have seen ur self

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