Players beginning to understand me – Keshi

Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi
| credits: File copy

The Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, on Saturday praised his players for being able to interpret his instructions on the field of play.

Keshi made the remark during the post-match news conference in Cape Town Stadium after the Super Eagles’ 1-0 win over the Warriors of Zimbabwe to place third in the 2014 African Nations Championship, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

He said, “I am so happy with the boys over these three weeks. I will call it so, they have grown in stature, and they are beginning to understand what I want and the mentality to express the game the way I want.

“I am happy for that in spite of the fact that they wanted to play in the final and did not get there but they still showed their mental strength against the Zimbabweans.

“The major goal for me in this tournament was to expose these players and see if I can draft a couple of them into my World Cup squad in five months time.”

On his immediate plans after the tournament in the build up to the World Cup, Keshi said that the main Eagles squad would regroup sometime in February for a friendly match.

“In three weeks time we will have to regroup for a friendly match against Mexico, which will fall on a FIFA match day; apart from this arrangement any other development will be secondary.

“I will use the opportunity to see and assess my major players and to also give some other players the opportunity to show what they can do, and to see whether they can attain the standard that I am looking for.

“Thereafter we will wait for the professional players to round up their season, so that we can regroup in Houston (U.S.) to begin our preparations for the World Cup,” Keshi added.