In the game of football or in any other game for that matter, it doesn’t take long for a sportsperson to become a hero or villain in the eyes of the fans. You can be a hero on one day and villain next day and vice versa.

It has happened with a number of sportspersons over the years. Currently, the man who is finding himself in such a situation is Stephen Keshi, the Nigeria boss.

He was an absolutely hero in his country some time back. As a skipper, he did some wonderful things for the Nigerian side and he carried on his good work after taking charge as manager as well, but, of late, things have started getting pear shaped for him and the support that he was getting back home is slowly turning into hatred.

The fans actually were unhappy with Keshi even before the start of the FIFA World Cup 2014. They were not satisfied with the squad picked by the manager. The exclusion of some of the senior players of the team didn’t go well with them at all and more than that the thing which pissed them off was some of the bizarre inclusions. A player like Gabriel Reuben who hadn’t played sufficient amount of football in the last season because of injury was there in the squad.

The fans’ anger would have cooled down if Keshi had managed to start well with the team that he picked for the World Cup. But, that didn’t happen. In the first match against Iran, he suffered a setback as his team could play only a goalless draw. That prompted the fans to start criticizing the manager even more.

But, all is not lost for Keshi as yet. There are two more games remaining in which he can show that the guys that he selected actually deserved to be there.

If Keshi guides Nigeria to the round of 16, he might earn some of his lost respect back, but, if he fails, he might start being treated as a villain back home.