Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has dismissed fears that Nigeria will be bundled out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in the quarter-final by West African neighbours Cote d’Ivoire.
Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire will square
up in the quarter-final match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations at the
Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg here on Sunday, with pundits
tipping the Ivorians to overrun Nigeria for the semi-final ticket.
But Keshi at a post match briefing on
Tuesday evening, dismissed the fears, saying both teams have equal
opportunities of either advancing or crashing out of the biennial soccer
fiesta.
The former Super Eagles, who praised
his young squad for reaching the last eight at the continental soccer
championship, said his target is not the Nations Cup trophy alone, but
to produce for Nigeria a strong team that would last for years.
“We are trying to introduce young
players that Yobo and Mikel will guide them on the field of play and
give them more support to play better, because we are not only looking
at the Nations Cup alone, we are trying to see how we can build a strong
team for Nigeria in the next five years.
“We are looking forward for the game
against Cote d’Ivoire. We are aware that both Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire
will not have the second chance if any of them loses in the
quarter-final.
“So, there is no problem here”, said Keshi.
DailyTrust
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