Tag: keshi

Nigeria head coach, Stephen Keshi, is considering a replacement for injured SS Lazio midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi, supersport.com can report.

Onazi, 20, has now been ruled out of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup after sustaining a knee injury in Wednesday’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Namibia in Windhoek.

A source in the Super Eagles camp confirmed that Keshi is unhappy that one of his most trusted midfield players will miss the Festival of Champions in Brazil.

“The coach is really devastated that he has lost yet another key player in Onazi before a major tournament. But he has said he is looking at replacing the injured midfielder,” said a backroom staff.

But the former Mali and Togo manager is yet to mention any name after a bonus row broke out in the team’s camp following their 1-1 draw against Namibia.

“He hasn’t had time to talk extensively about a possible replacement after the problem over bonuses in camp came up. But I’m sure when everything is resolved he will name a replacement for Onazi though I fear the time between now and our first game might be too short to bring in a replacement,” supersport.com was informed.

Nigeria are now left with six midfield players in Emeka Eze, John Obi Mikel, Fengor Ogude, John Ogu, Michael Babatunde and Sunday Mba ahead of the Confederations Cup that kicks off today in Brazil.

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has picked eight players from the domestic league for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

The players from the local league include five who made the final squad to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, where Nigeria won a third continental trophy.

Enugu Rangers supply three of these players, Sunday Mba, Chigozie Agbim and Emeka Eze, while Sunshine Stars have two players – Godfrey Oboabona and Solomon Kwambe.

The other players are Gambo Mohammed (Kano Pillars), Benjamin Francis (Heartland) and Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves).

Heartland left winger Obinna Nwachukwu and Sunshine defender Odunlami Kunle were dropped.

Fourteen of the players for the Confederations Cup led by Chelsea midfielder MIkel Obi were also on the final squad to the 2013 AFCON.

Nigeria will open their Confederations Cup campaign on June 17 against Tahiti. The other teams in their group are Spain and Uruguay.

Eagles 23-man squad:

Goalkeeper: Chigozie Agbim (Warri Wolves), Austin Ejide (Hapoel Beer Sheva), Vincent Enyeama (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Defenders: Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves),Efe Ambrose (Celtic Glasgow), Elderson Uwa Echiéjilé (Sporting de Braga), Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag), Godfrey Oboabona, Solomon Kwambe, Francis Benjamin (Heartland FC)

Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea), Ogenyi Onazi (SS Lazio), John Ogu (Academica de Coimbra), Sunday Mba, Emeka Eze (Enugu Rangers), Babatunde Michael (Kryvbas), Fegor Ogude (Valerenga)

Forwards: Joseph Akpala (SV Werder Bremen), Brown Ideye (Dynamo Kiev), Anthony Ujah (FC Cologne), Nnamdi Oduamadi (Varese), Gambo Mohammed (Kano Pillars), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow)

Says our mission is to pick maximum points

Nigeria Coach Stephen Keshi has stated clearly that the African champions will not settle for anything less than the three maximum points when they take on Kenya in Nairobi in a crucial 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday.

A confident Keshi added at the team’s only training session in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday that the Harambee Stars’ 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles in the first match in Calabar in March was in the past, and that his boys retain their focus of earning a ticket to Brazil next year summer.

“We respect the Kenyans for what they achieved when we played in Nigeria, but I like to state that is in the past. We have forgotten about that, just as we are not going to be thinking about the fact that we have beaten Kenya in nine of 11 previous meetings.

“The important thing is that we have a mission here and that is to pick the maximum points and then go to Namibia to do same. That way, we would have enhanced our chances of qualification for the World Cup before going to the Confederations Cup.”

The former Nigeria captain admitted that the team would have loved to have midfielders Victor Moses and Kalu Uche and striker Emmanuel Emenike with them in Nairobi, but that his gameplan is not significantly affected.

“Our focus is unaffected and our determination not in anyway weakened. We were forced to a 2-2 draw by Mexico in a friendly match in America last week, even without a good number of our regulars. On Wednesday, we would go out on the field to do the job and in the process, do our country proud.”

The Super Eagles flew into Nairobi around 1.20am on Tuesday morning, from Frankfurt via Khartoum and Addis Ababa, and immediately headed for their La Mada Hotel secured by the Nigeria Football Federation.

The NFF had rejected the coarse, noisy and generally sub-standard Sixeighty Hotel reserved for the team by the Football Kenya Federation.

A mild drama ensued at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when top officials of the FKF tried to get the Super Eagles to use the sub-standard bus they provided to head to the sub-standard hotel.

NFF’s Assistant Director (Media), Ademola Olajire, rebuffed the moves.

“The Nigeria Football Federation has a minimum standard for the Super Eagles of Nigeria and we will not lower that standard, no matter the intimidation.”

Eventually, a brief meeting involving Minister in the Nigeria High Commission in Nairobi, Mr. A. F. Okoh, Olajire, Coach Keshi, Dr. Christian Emeruwa and Kenyan FA Secretary Mike Esakwa resolved the matter and the African champions headed to their preferred nest.

The secluded, serene and better-secured La Mada Hotel is located off Nairobi’s Super Highway, and players and officials are impressed by the facilities.

NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari flew into Nairobi on Tuesday afternoon, while a delegation from Nigeria led by the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye was being expected in Nairobi on Tuesday evening.

As the Eagles are battling the Harambee Stars in Nairobi today, Malawi’s Flames would also be hosting Namibia’s Brave Warriors in Blantyre in the other match of Group F.

The Flames, on five points like the Super Eagles but with inferior goals difference, will also host the Harambee Stars in Blantyre on Wednesday next week, at the same time that the Eagles will be doing

battle with the Brave Warriors at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek.

Influential midfielder John Mikel Obi, who alongside first-choice goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama were the only ones involved when the Eagles edged the Kenyans 3-2 in a final 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the Moi International Sports Centre (venue of Wednesday’s match) on November 14, 2009, flew into Nairobi ahead of the delegation, having travelled aboard a British Airways flight from London.

Kenya are bottom of the Group F with only two points from three matches, behind three-pointer Namibia.

 

PREVIOUS MATCHES IN GROUP F

Nigeria 1 Namibia 0

Kenya 0 Malawi 0

Malawi 1 Nigeria 1

Namibia 1 Kenya 0

Nigeria 1 Kenya 1

Namibia 0 Malawi 1

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has expressed his frustration with the travel arrangements made by his country’s football authority for the team’s 2014 World Cup qualifier in Kenya on Wednesday.

The African champions flew from Houston, Texas on Saturday at 4pm local time to reach their training camp in Nuremburg, Germany. They will then arrive in Kenya via Ethiopia on Tuesday ahead of the crucial match against the Harambee Stars.

The round trip from Germany to USA, back to Germany and then from Ethiopia to Kenya is calculated at more than 22 thousand kilometres. They were in Houston for a friendly international against Mexico on Friday. The match finished 2-2 .

Keshi concedes there is a clear reason why the Super Eagles needed to go to Kenya via Europe. “It’s the only way we can have an easy connecting flight to Kenya,” Keshi said.

However, coach Keshi admitted that the significant travelling time will affect the team:

“Yes somehow it will have an effect, because you’re coming from another continent, with different weather. Everything together is going to have an effect.”

Keshi is disappointed that his players will not get a chance to train in Nairobi before Wednesday’s vital qualifier which had to be brought forward because of the Super Eagles’ participation in the forthcoming FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil:

“Now that we’re playing on Wednesday in Kenya, we probably will not have time to even practice before we play the game, that’s very tough,” Keshi said.

“It’s frustrating that you have a team and cannot practice with the team before a very major game.”

The coach is staying positive and is hopeful to get an opportunity to train.

“Hopefully if we get an opportunity to practice, we will take it, because we need every training session to correct some few things,” Keshi said.

“Any little time that we have, we will try to manage it well.”

The Super Eagles are level on points with Malawi at the top of World Cup qualifying Group F.

After three matches, both the Nigerians and the Flames have five points, with only the top team in each group going through to the next round to challenge for a place at the World Cup finals in Brazil next year.

Nigeria Coach Stephen Keshi says the African champions have God on their side and will pick up the three points at the end of Wednesday’s 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Kenya in Nairobi.

The 51-year old’s troops surprised the continent by winning the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in February and Keshi believes the team still has divine support as they seek to reach the 2014 global showpiece in Brazil.

“I am not saying anything (about Wednesday’s match) except to say that God is working with us and we will be prepared for this match. The focus is there and we have the determination to get a good result.”

Discountenanced by many before the Cup of Nations, and rated nowehere near the likes of Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana’s Black Stars, Keshi’s Eagles overcame an uninspiring start with focus and determination and swept to glory.

“We showed good stuff against Mexico despite missing a number of players and we will even be stronger in Nairobi. I am looking forward to three points on Wednesday,” Keshi said as the Nigeria delegation boarded the plane in Houston to fly back to Frankfurt, Germany at the weekend. He was clearly upbeat following his team’s gutsy 2-2 draw with the Central American champions in a prestigeous friendly on Friday.

In Frankfurt, influential midfielders John Mikel Obi and Fegor Ogude and Russia-based forward Ahmed Musa will join the squad for the flight to East Africa. The team is scheduled to fly aboard a Lufthansa

Airline flight to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on Monday night, before connecting an Ethiopian Airline flight to Nairobi, arriving in the Kenyan capital in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Nigeria Football Federation has been working assiduously with the High Commission of Nigeria in Nairobi to monitor arrangements and possible schemes by the hosts, and an NFF advance party flew into the Kenyan capital on Sunday morning.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Ambassador Akin Oyateru, was scheduled to fly back into Nairobi on Sunday evening from official assignment abroad.