Kanu believes in Boss Keshi

Nwankwo Kanu has Boko Haram on his mind.

It is over two months since more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were abducted by the militant Islamic group in northeastern Nigeria.

Nigerian football icon Kanu, father of two-year-old baby girl Pinky, has added his voice to the international outcry calling for the safe return of the girls.

"If you're a parent wherever you're in the world, you know that this thing is not right.

"We Nigerians, if you're Muslim, you're praying. If you're Christian you're praying for the safe return of the girls.

"Everybody is united against this thing. It doesn't matter which tribe you come from. All of us are in one voice," said Kanu in an exclusive interview last month.

Tonight, though, the C-word will occupy the mind of the 1996 and 1999 African Footballer of the Year. It's Curitiba, a city in the Brazilian state of Parana, which will be home to the Super Eagles for whom Kanu starred 84 times from 1994 to 2010.

Tonight, Nigeria start their fifth Fifa World Cup campaign - others were in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010 - against Iran, coached by former Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Queiroz.

A super start against Iran will bolster the Super Eagles' chances of getting out of the group stages alive.

"Yes we can" is Kanu's Obamasque response to whether their bid for glory in Brazil will see Nigeria progress to the last 16, as they did in 1994 and 1998.

"The strength of this squad is the unity. The team spirit is very strong. And then they have the Big Boss who puts everything right," said Kanu.

"No player will come and try to challenge him. It's either you walk with him or not. I can talk about this man forever.

"The national team is a place now where people who want to play for the country come and play.

"In the past, people were like, 'we need them.' Right now we don't need anybody, they need the national team. No one is doing Nigeria a favour.

"From that sense, the Big Boss has done very well by turning things around. We are winning. No one can argue against that."

The Big Boss is the sobriquet for Stephen Keshi, the affable but no-nonsense mentor who became only the second man after Egyptian Mahmoud El-Gohary to win the African Nations Cup as a player and coach when Nigeria won their fifth African crown in South Africa in February.

Reigning African Coach of the Year Keshi's decision to dispense with high-profile names in favour of a new generation ahead of Afcon 2013 didn't win the hearts and minds of many in the most populous African nation.

Many saw the likes of Obafemi Martins, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Victor Obinna and Ikechukwu Uche as indispensable.

"In Nigeria everyone is a coach," said Kanu "yet without all those names we won Afcon and qualified for the World Cup.

"Everybody has to stick with Keshi and support him. He's somebody who I respect. When he played he commanded, and people listened to him. He is a great leader who captained the country."

Kanu expects Keshi, whose coaching credentials include helping Togo qualify for the 2006 World Cup, to bulldoze Nigeria into becoming the first Africans to break the World Cup quarterfinal cul-de-sac reached by Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana.

"If you look at the other groups, we count ourselves lucky to be in a group with Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We respect them, but we believe we are 80% through.

"If the boys come out in style from the group, what can stop them from chasing the semifinal? Going to Brazil as champions of Africa gives them an advantage cause right now they are flying."

They don't play with the swagger, poise and panache of the golden generation of '94 and '98. That lot boasted names like Samson Siasia, Finidi George, Sunday Oliseh, Kanu, Emmanuel Emanike, Rashidi Yekini, Daniel Amokachi, and the man who was so good his parents had to name him twice - Jay-Jay Okocha.

But this current crop has its own zenith and zeal and is built around a strong spine.

Captain Vincent Enyeama of Lille provides a safe pair of hands, a world-class goalkeeper who kept Argentina at bay in 2010 bar the solitary strike that beat him.

Fenerbahce defender Joseph Yobo is a dependable servant with a cool head on his shoulders.

Down the middle, John Obi Mikel orchestrates play in a different role to the deep-sitting one Jose Mourinho deploys him in at Chelsea.

If the late Yekini was the spearhead at the '98 edition, in Yobo's club teammate Emmanuel Emenike the Class of 2014 has a hard-running striker with raw power reminiscent of Yekini.

Many will expect Cote d'Ivoire, blessed with the most experienced squad of the five African representatives, to fly the flag, but Nigeria might just be the surprise package.

One hopes the bonus demands - the players are demanding a portion of the $8-million paid to the Nigeria Football Federation by Fifa for qualification - will be met so the Super Eagles will focus on what is on Kanu's mind - soaring to the semifinals.

• bbk@sundaytimes.co.za