Brian Baloyi (Gallo)

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According to the Football411.com website, Keshi, who captained the Super Eagles class of 1994 to Africa Cup of Nations glory, became only the second man to win the event as a player and coach after guiding the national team to a 1-0 win over Burkina Faso in this year's final on Sunday.

"Keshi was obviously a big factor in Nigeria's success in South Africa," Baloyi told Football411. "He proved himself coaching smaller nations in West Africa, so it was only a matter of time before he achieved success with his own country."

While Baloyi refused to paint all foreign coaches in Africa with the same negative brush, he endorsed more local managers taking up the reins.

"African coaches often have the edge over their European counterparts as they better understand the politics of the country, but more importantly can truly relate to the culture," he added.

"Football is not about the biggest personalities or egos, but rather camaraderie and team work. Keshi rallied his soldiers and got them fighting for each other."

While Baloyi was not overly impressed with the standard of goalkeeping in the tournament, he believes South Africa's number-one Itumeleng Khune was one the few glovemen who enhanced his credentials.

"From a local perspective obviously Khune did well, but for him to further improve, he needs more competition," added the 38-year-old, capped 24 times for his country.

"For me there are not enough local goalkeepers currently playing in the PSL, which is a problem that needs to be addressed."

Baloyi believes Khune's understudies Wayne Sandilands and Senzo Meyiwa need to be given a chance to prove themselves at national level and are not just employed for meaningless friendlies.

"We currently have many good goalkeepers, but they lack experience at national level. We have to build proper back-up," he concluded.