Stephen Keshi
“We are in Brazil for serious business,” declares Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi.
Keshi said “Friendlies are meant to serve as rehearsals; they are different from competitive matches. “This is not an excuse for our performance in the matches, but seriously speaking, the results do not mean anything to me, evaluate us in the World Cup.”
Having not had victories in the last four games, the Coach, affectionately called ‘The Boss’ insisted his side will be ready to perform in their FIFA World Cup opener against Iran.
He assured fans that there is no cause for alarm as Nigeria gets set to commence their campaign in the 2014 FIFA World Cup against Iran on June 16.
Many Nigerian fans have been brought back to earth from their hitherto heightened expectations, after the team failed to win any of their warm-up games, having drawn against Scotland and Greece, and suffered defeat at the hands of the United States. Keshi however insists that the results from the friendlies are not a true reflection of the strength of the team. The Big Boss stated that the friendlies were meant to serve as rehearsals for the team, adding that the team are ready to do serious business in Brazil.
Lionel Messi
Keshi said Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was not on their agenda until they had negotiated group games with Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“We have two games before thinking about Messi,” he said.
“We will try to do better than we did in 2010 in South Africa but we’ll see what happens when the World Cup starts.”
Additional reports from ThisDay and FourFourTwo.
