Former Super Eagles captain, Austin Okocha, is still in shock over the death of his former teammate, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.
Keshi captained the Super Eagles to win the African Cup of Nations at Tunisia '94 and later won the title as Nigeria's coach at South Africa 2013.
Okocha played alongside Keshi at Tunisia '94 Nations Cup and USA '94 FIFA World Cup, which Nigeria participated for the first time and narrowly missed a quarterfinal ticket.
Keshi died in the early hours of Wednesday in Benin City and Okocha feels the vacuum created by his demise will be difficult to fill.
Okocha, who is the chairman of Delta State Football Association, prayed that such a calamity should not visit the Nigerian sports family again, just as he prayed God to grant Keshi's family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
In 1982, Coach Festus Adegboye Onigbinde was handed the task of rebuilding the Eagles following Nigeria's early exit from the African Nations Cup hosted in Libya, where Keshi scored two goals in the opening match against Ethiopia, a match the Eagles triumphed 3-0.
It was Onigbinde, who made Keshi captain of the new-look Super Eagles and the team under his tutelage qualified for the 1984 Nation's Cup in Cote d'Ivoire, where Nigeria finished second after losing 1-3 to Cameroun.