Keshi Urges Home-based Eagles to Beat Star-studded Elephants

Stephen Keshi

Out-of-contract coach, Stephen Keshi, has tasked the Super Eagles to go all out and shine against star-studded Cote d'Ivoire and Sudan in test matches planned for Abu Dhabi to prove that football is not dead in Nigeria.

Keshi, who is on holidays in Benin City, put through a surprise call to the team at dinner time on Friday and urged the players to play according to instructions of the coaching staff led by assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi.
“The players you are going to play against don’t have two heads or four legs and they are not more talented than you, so you can beat them and tell them that football is not dead in Nigeria,” he said.

Keshi won AFCON 2013 for Nigeria and took the team to the second round of FIFA World Cup in Brazil last year, but failed to secure the team qualification for the 2015 AFCON title in Equatorial Guinea.
However, Amokachi at the weekend expressed fears that the team may not be fully match fit when they file out against Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan in Abu Dhabi.

The home-based Eagles have been in camp in Abuja in preparation for the two-legged friendly against one of AFCON favourites Cote d’Ivoire.
With players like Enyimba's Mfon Udoh, Esperance of Tunisia-bound Emem Eduok, Gbolahan Salami of Warri Wolves in camp, Amokachi said the team's biggest challenge is to get the players to full match fitness.
"Well yeah! What we are working on right now is to get the players back to full match fitness," he said.
"You know the Nigeria league has been off season and most of the players have been on holiday and are now rusty."
"That is why you have seen that we have been working hard on their fitness. As you know we have only seven days to train for the games which are top class."

Amokachi, who maintained that Keshi remains in charge of the team, is expected to pick 19 players from the 24 in camp.
Meanwhile, the national team will this morning take on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), soccer team in a test match at the Abuja National Stadium in the federal capital city.
The game is being packaged for the team to test its readiness for the two important friendlies coming up next week in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The sports loving Director General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen Johnson Olawumi, obliged the Eagles despite the team’s tight schedule and the fact that the yuletide season just ended.

The game will afford the technical crew comprising Amokachi, Houandonou Valere and Ike Shorunmu an insight into those players that will make it to the UAE for the friendlies and the overall fitness of the team.