CHAN: Eagles Defeat Heightens Stephen Keshi’s Fears

The Super Eagles defeat by the Jordanian national team in Amman Monday did not come as a surprise to Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi.

He raised the alarm before the match while expressing worries about the readiness of the Nigeria Football Federation to support the home-based Eagles ahead of the CHAN championship.
The coach has asked for long camping in order for the players to blend as a unit. Before the Jordan friendly, Keshi told reporters that he expected a tough match because “Jordan has been together for a while and they play Uruguay in the World Cup playoff, so we are playing a very strong team and it would be a difficult game,”
Keshi warned ahead of the first-ever clash between the two countries at this level. super-eagels Even at that the Afcon winning coach did not expect a defeat for his wards as he stated that the boys had shown some promise. “Their performance is okay.
They are really pushing hard to be there. It’s not easy, some of them are new and it’s their first time, so I expect the early panic I have seen from them,” he said. “But in all, I am impressed at their fitness level. We will continue to do our best but it’s just that the time is too short for us to do anything before the Jordan game.”
The defeat is an eye opener and a call for serious work on the team as the technical crew is yet to identify players that will go to South Africa. Another fear is some of the players in the present team may be out of the country soon in search of the proverbial Greener Pastures.
Players like Sunday Mba, Azubuike Egwuekwe and a few others who shone in the just concluded Glo Premier League season may not be in the country by January when CHAN be held in South Africa.
Nigeria are expected to open training camp for CHAN in December. The Eagles are drawn against hosts South Africa, Mali and Mozambique in the first round of the tournament strictly for players featuring in their various local leagues in Africa.


Vanguard