Super Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi has launched a
thinly-veiled attack on the strikers he picked for the 2013 FIFA
Confederations Cup in Brazil.
Nigeria crashed out of the competition after a 0-3 defeat to world
and European champions, Spain in Fortaleza on Sunday, Supersport.com
reports. The African champions scored seven goals in the tournament but six of
those came against minnows, Tahiti, a side that shipped in 10 goals
against Spain and eight against Uruguay.
Four of the strikers selected by Keshi, Brown Ideye, Anthony Ujah,
Joseph Akpala and Gambo Mohammed all failed to score in Brazil despite
getting decent game time under their belt.
After managing just one goal in their final two games against Uruguay
and Spain, Keshi declared in a thinly-veiled remark that the strikers
he selected for the “tournament of champions” are not good enough.
“I can’t imagine that my top striker Emmanuel Emenike would miss some
of the goals that we missed (at the tournament),” Keshi revealed in an
astonishing post-match tirade in Fortaleza on Sunday.
Nigeria suffered a spate of late withdrawals with several top stars sitting out the tournament due to injuries.
Keshi believes his side would have performed better in Brazil if the absent players had not pulled out of the squad. “Ogenyi Onazi was sorely missed. Victor Moses would have ruined any
team here and of course several other players that should have been here
could not make it due to injuries. Among them United States-based
Bright Dike,” Keshi said.
Nigeria finished as the fifth best side at the tournament.
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