After the super performance of the Super Eagles team on Saturday night,
Coach Stephen Keshi told Nigerians: “Always be patient. Don’t write off any
team in a tournament until that tournament is over.” He did not sound boastful
but he was extremely excited that the boys lifted their game and earned a
deserved victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The 1-0 victory has placed
Nigeria’s one leg in the second round.
“It was tough against Iran but Nigerians didn’t know how difficult they
were until they saw Argentina struggling with them. We knew what we did wrongly
and worked on them before the match against Bosnia,” Keshi continued in an
exclusive chat on Saturday. “I’m proud of the boys. They did well. But we all
need to do more. We play Argentina tomorrow and we will give it our all.
Argentina are world class. They are good and they have many good players. We
will rely on our team work. Team work will see us through.”
The emphasis on team work probably led to the benching of Victor Moses
whose individual play had become a minus to the team. Moses would likely learn
from the performance against Bosnia and change his game. Keshi is not ruling
any player out but strongly maintains that team tactics should prevail.
Osaze Odewengie played well in the eyes of many against Iran. Keshi did
not dispute that. But he did not quite position himself in a particular way
that could see him latch on rebounds, especially the drop nodding from Shola
Ameobi. Each time the ball dropped, there was nobody to follow up. And that
angered Keshi. But Osaze quickly understood and made up against Bosnia and
Keshi is very happy with him and the entire team. Osaze’s goal earned Nigeria
the sweet victory against Bosnia.
“Everything is about team work. I think that we will play well against
Argentina. We hope to qualify and move on. I plead with Nigerians to always be
patient. The way they wrote us off after the match against Iran was disturbing.
Let’s hope we get it right again on Wednesday.”
No comments:
Post a Comment