Super Eagles chief Coach, Stephen Keshi, has stated that his focus now is to help Nigeria qualify for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) which the country has never qualified for in the history of the competition.
Keshi said he is ready to help Nigeria qualify for the African Nations Championships meant for players playing in the local leagues of countries in Africa (CHAN).
“We would go back home take a few days rest and prepare for our CHAN qualifiers against Cote d’Ivoire in the coming days and hopefully we should be able to make it through,” he said.
The coach stressed that, injuries contributed to Nigeria’s poor showing at the FIFA Confederations Cup, as those who replaced the injured players didn’t fit in well into those positions. “I can’t imagine that my top striker Emmanuel Emenike would miss some of the goals that we missed and even Ogenyi Onazi was sorely missed, Victor Moses would have ruined any team here and ofcourse several other players that should have been here could not make it due to injuries. Among them United States based Bright Dike.
Keshi then declared that he knows exactly what to do while appealing to Nigerians to forgive the team for the less than average performance at the tournament. He promised that the team will come good in the World Cup qualifiers. “We want to come back here next year and make an impact. This is a dress rehearsal and I can assure that the Super Eagles will be among the top nations when the Brazil 2014 World Cup starts”, he said.
Keshi also revealed that he has fresh options for the national team when the team resumes for the final World Cup qualifier match against Malawi in September.
