Garba Lawal Criticizes Keshi And Team Over Loss To France

The 40-year-old former Super Eagles player Garba Lawal has blamed the team's coach Stephen Keshi for the loss to France in FIFA World Cup round of 16. 

Photo: Garba Lawal

Ex-midfielder, who featured at the 1998 and 2002 Mundials, lamented that the head coach made a bad choice replacing the injured Ogenyi Onazi with Reuben Gabriel, Nigerian Tribune reports.

Moreover, Garbo criticized the national team over lack of character for the defeat. 

Related: Read What John Mikel Obi Is Saying About Pogba's Performance Against Nigeria

Lawal, who is a member of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), commented on the match outcome:

"I can say Eagles lost to France because Coach Stephen Keshi lacked tactical knowledge. When an important player is injured, there must be a very good option in same frame with the player to come on, but that was not to be in the game... Eagles also lacked character. The French allowed us to play in the first half and we couldn’t punish them with goals, we started well but didn’t have the attitude to carry on the same way."

Meanwhile controversies keep tracking the story with Stephen Keshi's alleged quit from the positing of the Super Eagles coach. Right after the elimination from the tournament the Big Boss made hints about his resignation when asked about his future in the team.

Hours later Keshi allegedly took to Twitter to confirm he "bows out". However yesterday the NFF said the coach had not submitted the official resignation letter. Moreover, it was reported that he did not have an official Twitter account and that the message had been dropped by someone else.