Tag: keshi

The Super Eagles arrived Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, for the showdown against the Bafana Bafana, in the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge on Aug. 14 in Durban.

Coach Stephen Keshi on arrival at the OR Thambo International Airport, alongside four players, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that other foreign-based players would join the contingent in South Africa.

The Super Eagles would tackle their host at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, to commemorate the birthday of the South African icon and raise money for his charity project. Keshi urged Nigerians to pray for good health and for the players to be injury free.

“Nigerians should pray for the boys to be in good health; if they are in good health they will be able to give Nigerians what they like to see, which good football is.

In spite of the friendly nature of the match, the Super Eagles coach stressed that the match bordered on prestige.

“Every match is important for us, especially against an important opponent like Bafana Bafana and every match we engage in is very important. So we won’t travel six hours from Nigeria to South Africa not to be committed to victory,” Keshi said.

Keshi, who was a member of the Super Eagles squad that won the 1994 edition of the AFCON in Tunisia, said the team will give their best.

“I am not God to tell Nigerians the outcome of the match, but am sure the players will give their best and make the country proud,” he said.

Keshi, however, said that all the players invited for the match will honour the call, except the two players that had been granted permission to stay away.

In the meantime, two other Bafana Bafana players have also pulled out of the team, due to injuries. The latest withdrawal brings to eight, the number of players that have withdrawn from the ones earlier invited to camp.

It would be recalled that six of the Orlando Pirates players were recalled from the national team, through the permission of the South Africa Football Association (SAFA).

The team would engage Al Ahly of Egypt on Aug. 18, in the CAF Champions League competition in South Africa.

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi says the latest FIFA ranking that tied Nigeria down on 35th place in the world is nothing to worry about.

The African champions who prior to June’s rating were occupying the 31st spot in the world dropped to 35th position and remained unmoved in the latest July Rankings with 700 points.

However, Keshi, who became the first Nigerian to win the Africa Cup of Nations title as a captain and coach, says he has no issues with the Eagles’ July position on the rankings.

“I don’t know how the rankings work so I am not worried about it. What I am worried about is seeing my team play well,” Keshi told supersport.com.

The Eagles have also lost their fourth spot in the Africa ranking to Algeria while Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana and Mali maintain their first, second and third spots respectively.

Spain, Germany, Colombia, Argentina and the Netherlands are the top five nations in the world, according to the rankings.

Super Eagles Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi is grounded in Lagos.

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) gold winning coach has been holed up in the nation’s commercial centre since arriving from Cote d’Ívoire on Sunday.

Inadequate cash has been cited as the reason.

“We expected him in Benin this week after his trip from Abidjan, but he told me that he did not have enough cash to travel. He was therefore forced to stay back in Lagos. I think he is trying to source for funds before he can travel,” SportingLife gathered from a competent source.

Our source, however, refused to hinge Keshi’s recent plight on his salaries which have been unpaid for six months.

Though from Delta state, Benin is where Keshi’s family home is and where some of his in-laws reside. “Anytime, the team is on break, he travels to Benin to see his relations. And, of course, when he goes, like any other person, he should not go empty-handed,” the source said.

An exact day of Keshi’s departure from Lagos could however not be confirmed by our source. “That I cannot say for now,” he replied.

If, eventually, Keshi ends up travelling to Benin, it would be a flying visit as he is expected in Abuja next week to prepare for the August 14 international friendly against South Africa.

Nigeria Coach, Stephen Keshi, has urged an investigative panel to put in place better procedures to avert any future bonus rows.

Keshi met a six-man panel that will present their findings on the row that led to the national team almost boycotting the Confederations Cup in Brazil in June.

The former Super Eagles captain says failure to provide relevant information about a change in the win bonus was partly responsible for the last episode.

“Our first objective should be to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Keshi told BBC Sport.

“When I was asked about a way forward, I simply suggested to the panel that for the great benefit of everyone, information is key.

“We can pool our energies and resources together to prevent a future occurrence because our country’s football should not be torn apart by a preventable bonus crisis.”

Players staged a protest over unpaid bonus monies promised to them after they beat Kenya 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier last month.

They wanted to be paid £6,370 ($10,000) but the cash-strapped Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which has been forced to cut back on backroom staff of the various national teams, refused.

The Nigerian players were then offered a bonus £1,590 ($2,500) following their 1-1 draw in Namibia in another World Cup qualifier, but again the players wanted more.

Before June’s drama, Nigeria’s last major bonus row happened in Nairobi in 2007 when, after a friendly against Kenya, the players refused to fly to Uganda for a 2008 Nations Cup qualifier.

“It has happened in the national team before, but the panel have to do a good job to prevent it from happening again,” Keshi said.

“If it is not properly handled, it will happen again and there could be another unwanted crisis.

“It is important to inform people ahead of time about a change and what is going to happen. We should stop the idea of letting it out to the public, and players reading it for the first time in the media.

“Players and officials must all be carried along in certain decisions that affect the team.

“It is not when we are far away that the NFF should come up with [bonus] decisions, because it is not good for the team and the country.”

Meanwhile, Keshi has hailed his team for qualifying for the African Nations Championship finals after a 4-3 aggregate win over Ivory Coast on Saturday.

Keshi said: “This was very important for us because we’ve never qualified before and I’m just happy for the players.

“My thoughts are with them because they worked so hard and we pushed them so hard. And I wanted to see them there.”

Nigeria’s 0-2 loss to the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire in the final leg of the final round of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) qualifier has been described as a good experience for the national team by Head Coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, just as he thanked God for seeing his team through in Abidjan on Saturday.

“We thank God we qualified at the end of the day but my boys did not pick up till the second half and I must say to you that I am happy and this is a great experience for a young side like the home-based side”.

The former Stade D Abidjan libero admitted that his players were jittery at the start of the match which led to them conceding two quick goals in the first half, but they woke up and gave a good account of themselves in the second.

“If you say it was a game of two halves I may tend to agree with you. Because we started poorly largely due to inexperience and then when we came into the game they struggled against us, but that is football. We are just grateful to the NFF, Nigerians and God that we made it for the first time to the CHAN tournament.”

Ivorian Coach, Saraka Norbert, who also spoke at the post-match conference, admitted that the Nigerian side were slightly more experienced than his side, even as he refused to blame the two red cards the team received in the first leg in Kaduna for his side’s ouster.

“Nigeria is a great country economically, socially and even in football and we must admit that when we get to their heights in the near future, Ivorian football will be great again,” he said.

Norbert again reiterated his love for the Nigerian handler, whom he once again described as an Ivorian and wished him well in his future endeavours.

The Nigerian team departed Abidjan on Sunday morning through Lome, the Togolese capital. The team arrived in Nigeria at about 4:00pm Nigerian time and dispersed immediately from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, according to the team’s administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor.

The next big assignment for the Super Eagles will be the Mandela Challenge contest against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Durban in August.