Keshi: I Won’t Overhaul My Team; NFF Slams Eagles

Despite the poor showing of his team in two international friendly matches, Coach Stephen Keshi has declared that he has no plans of carrying out a total overhaul of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

The Eagles played a barren draw with Zebras of Botswana in Benin, Edo State on Saturday and beat the Chipolopolo of Zambia 2-0 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna yesterday in another friendly tie.  The Nigerian head coach said, after his side’s victory over the Zambians, that he would only strengthen the team where there is a need for such.

“I did not say I would overhaul the team. But where changes are needed, we will make them,” said the 49-year-old coach, who took over Eagles from sacked Samson Siasia.

“I won’t overhaul the team, but I will make sure that for every 18 or 25 we get to camp, there are twins in every position.”

Keshi particularly referred to yesterday’s friendly in which the Zambians were the more impressive side.

He pointed out a dearth of midfielders in the Super Eagles following their performance against Zambia.

“I had like 10 strikers today and I was looking for midfielders to play but I couldn’t find them.

“I can’t put a striker on as a midfielder. I need to have a number of players in every department that will allow me change players if one is not doing well,” he said.

The Uche brothers, Kalu and Ikechukwu, scored the two goals that gave Keshi his first win since he resumed as handler of the team.

Meanwhile, chairman of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Chris Green, has expressed displeasure over the unimpressive victory of the Eagles over Chipolopolo of Zambia.

Though the Eagles beat the Zambian team, the Chipolopolo dominated the game which forced the Kaduna fans to support the visiting team during the encounter.

Green said football is unpredictable as Zambia dominated the match but was relieved that the Eagles ran away with the 2-0 win. He added that there is need for the team to play as a unit.

“Football is unpredictable, the Zambian team played better than our Eagles, but we are happy that Eagles eventually won the game. The team is still under a re-building process, and I believe that they will soon get their rhythm and cohesion,” he said.

He, however, expressed confidence over the capability of the new coach to return the team to their glorious days.