Wilfred Agbonavbare's death shocks Stephen Keshi

Babalola Tomiwa

Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi has has expressed shock at the news of the death of his ex-teammate Wilfred Agbonavbare.

Keshi, who was the captain of the team when the Eagles won the 2nd AFCON title in tunisia said that the death of the former Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper is a bitter pill to swallow despite knowing he has been battling cancer for sometime.

"Wilfred is dead? No! This is a bitter pill to swallow," began Keshi while speaking to supersport.com. "What do I say about him now? I still remember our time together as teammates while at NNB many years back. Wilfred was one goalkeeper who was good at what he did."

He further went on: "I cannot forget the role he played in our qualifying for the first (Fifa) World Cup in 1994. He was very, very important for the team and especially in the World Cup qualifying matches against Algeria and Ivory Coast before 1994. I cannot forget how he saved us several times in those games in Lagos before we went on to win 4-1 against the two teams.

"It is so sad to hear that Willy Fancy is gone. That's how we call him because he was one of our best goalkeepers and whenever he made a save he would shake his body and we would just break into the chorus of 'Willy Fancy.'"

The former Mali and Togo coach, who played alongside Agbonavbare during their active football days described him as one of the "cool-headed" then.

Keshi also said the last time he got in touch with Agbonavbare was several months ago when he was planning on travelling to the United States of America.

"With Wilfred there was no cause for any kind of trouble. He was a cool-headed guy. I cannot recall him getting angry at any time. He was always open to advice and he was never afraid of taking chances. I am happy I played alongside him at club and national team level. It is sad that he is gone so soon though death is one thing we can't escape from. But I am happy because he has given us all memories to live with. I pray his soul rest in peace," said Keshi, who captained the 1994 squad of Nigeria, which Agbonavbare was a prominent member.

Agbonavbare passed away in Spain on Tuesday at the age of 48.

The former NNB goalkeeper is the fourth member of the Nigerian squad to the 1994 who have passed away. The others are Uche Okafor (died in 2011), Rashidi Yekini (died in 2012) and Thompson Oliha (died in 2013).