30th November, 2011
Chief Coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi, has blamed the U-23 Eagles’ 1-2 defeat by Senegal to the poor tactics adopted by Austin Eguavoen in the second match of the Africa Olympic qualifiers taking place in Morocco.
The U-23 Eagles have lost two matches in a row in Group A, which makes the team walk a tightrope for the qualification to the semi finals of the qualifiers. Keshi, who is in Morocco to assist Eguavoen and his technical team in the championship, was not impressed with the performance of the Nigerian team in yesterday’s match against the Senegalese side. The former Nigerian international did not hide his feeling against the tactics used by Eguavoen, saying that he erred by adopting two different tactics in a match which led to the team’s defeat.
P.M.Sports gathered that Keshi was not happy that Eguavoen had to use 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 playing formations in the first and second half respectively which rather than help the players, confused them the more.
The former Hawks of Togo coach also blamed the players for not playing to instructions, saying that the team lacked cohesion, co-ordination and fighting spirit which resulted in their two defeats in the championship.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to condemn the U-23 Eagles for losing to Junior Terenga Lions of Senegal.
FIFA and CAF Instructor, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, said Eguavoen’s excuse of not having some foreign based players in the team is not acceptable, adding that the country is paying the price of not developing football at the grassroots.
Former Nigerian international, Jonathan Akpoborire advised Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to recall the team back home before their third match against Algeria to avoid further embarrassment. He said there is need for the NFF to go back to the basics and develop the game.
In his own submission, former chairman of the Nigerian Premier League, NPL, Oyiuki Obaseki, said that Nigeria should take a break from international football for at least two years to concentrate on the development of the game locally, adding that the problem does not lie with the coaches but with the approach to the development of the game.
— Sunday Akintoye & Olusegun Abidoye