17th December, 2013
Coach Stephen Keshi who is taking the home-based team to the African Nations Championship, CHAN, 2014 has voiced out his concern over lack of time to prepare his team for the tournament which will kick off in South Africa on 11 January.
Speaking to journalists after the team’s training at the Abuja National Stadium Monday, the former Hawks of Togo coach said he would have loved to engage his team in some Grade A friendly matches, but the time is not on their side as the tournament is around the corner.
The former Eagles of Mali coach stated that playing some friendly matches would afford him the opportunity to fine-tune his team where he would have known the players’ strengths and weaknesses.
According to him, “the list of players will be made known soon because we need to decamp some players to give room for us to concentrate for the competition.”
Asked what the chances of the country are, with Nigeria making her debut at the event, Keshi said: “It is too early for anybody to predict what will happen but we’ll try our best not to disappoint Nigerians.”
—Adebobola Alawode