Super Eagles Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, said on Saturday that it would not be easy spending the Christmas in camp in preparation for the Championship of African Nations (CHAN).
CHAN is scheduled to hold in South Africa between January 11 and February 1.
Keshi, however, said in Abuja that he would have loved to spend the holiday in the United States (U.S.) with his family, but that time would not permit him.
According to him, the task of preparing the home-based Eagles for the CHAN had taken over his Christmas and New Year celebration.
“It is difficult to be in camp during Christmas. It has been like that since we took over.
“We have had three Christmas and New Year in the camp, what can we do.
“I will love to be with my family in the U.S. and hangout with them, but we are here as part of the sacrifice we have to make,’’ Keshi said.
The Super Eagles handler blamed their three consecutive Christmas in camp on the poor structure of the country’s domestic leagues.
“Every national league in Europe that I know works accordingly with the national team so that things will work in a marriage form.
“But here in Nigeria it is a different ball game. We are going for a big competition in Africa and the leagues are not on.
“The boys are not playing in any competition. How are they going to be in form?
“However, I just want to do my job, but honestly speaking it is not good,’’ Keshi said.
He urged Nigerians not to expect too much from the team as there was nothing on ground to prepare it for the championship.
Keshi noted that with the leagues on break, Nigerians would be asking for too much if they expected the team to lift the CHAN trophy.
“It is not possible to say I will win the trophy because what is going on here is very difficult to get us the result, but we will try to do our best”.
