It's Victory Or Nothing — Keshi
Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has expressed confidence in the ability of his team to come out victorious when they face the Atlas Lions of Morocco in today’s quarter final match of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa.
The 'Big Boss' said he had studied video recordings of all the matches played by the North Africans, and had discovered that their areas of strength were in counter attacks and effective use of the wings.
"We have seen those things and the boys have been told what to do to checkmate them. We will be able to match them in every department of the game," Keshi said.
The ex-Togo and Mali boss warned the players about the dangers of the match extending beyond 90 minutes, because of the unpredictability of spot kicks:
"I don't want the match to drag into penalties, because penalties are anybody’s game. We have perfected our penalty kicks, but I would not want it to get to that stage," he said.
"All we are here to do is enjoy ourselves, have fun and be happy. Pressure? Nothing like that.
"We had no specific target when we came here. But for me, if I can see three or four players that will make the World Cup squad, I will be satisfied."
"We've got even better players at home"
Keshi has also said this is not even his best squad.
"The ones that are here are just fortunate to be here because there are better players back home in Nigeria that could have been here but we had no time to get them into the system."
However, he was quick to give credit to the players in his squad, saying they had not disappointed him.
"I thank God with what I have here. These players are very disciplined, they work hard and I just want them to have fun, play without pressure and be happy so that they can get experience of playing at a high level in Africa."
Probable line-ups
Nigeria:
Morocco:
Nigeria finished as runners up in Group A with six points while Morocco were tops in Group B with five points. The match kicks off at 4pm Nigerian time.
Source: Legit.ng
