Sani Keita:
Keita was unarguably one of the best defensive midfielders Nigeria ever had, but he fell out of favour after he became the first Nigerian to be sent off in a world cup match. He was sent off in a group stage game in the 2010 FIFA world cup at South Africa against Greece for kicking Vasilis Torosidis after Torosidis motioned to throw the ball at him. Greece went on to secure their first ever world cup goal and win. That incident marked a major turn-around in his career and that was his last ever recorded International call up. Prior to this incident, Keita had represented Nigeria at the 2005 FIFA U-20 world cup in the Netherlands, playing all 7 games in the tournament and had made 22 appearances for the national team before the world cup. He joined Sparta Rotterdam in 2005 and then moved to Monaco in 2008 where he spent his entire contract on loan.
Macauley Christantus:
Christantus represented Nigeria at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Korea. He was the top scorer in that tournament, netting seven goals and at the end of the tournament, went home with the Silver ball and the Golden boot. He was tipped to become Nigeria’s next top striker. However, He has not received any national team call-up. He has played for 12 clubs which includes Hamburger SV, FSV Frankfurt, Las Palmas, AEK Athens and HJK Helsinki. The 29 year old currently plays for Saudi Arabian club Hetten.
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