Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has lamented missing his family at Christmas as the Super Eagles ‘B’ continue their camping towards the African Nations Championship.
The former Eagles captain cried out on Saturday that it would not be easy spending the Christmas Day in camp in preparation for the competition holding in South Africa between Jan. 11 and Feb. 1. He blamed the clash of the Nigerian football seasons with Christmas on poor planning.
Keshi, who is on N5m salary, said in Abuja that he would have loved to spend the holiday in the USA with his family, but that time would not permit him. According to him, the task of preparing the home-based Eagles for the CHAN had taken over his Christmas and New Year celebration.
He said, “It is difficult to be in camp during Christmas. It has been like that since we took over. We have had three Christmas and New Year celebrations in the camp; what can we do. I will love to be with my family in the US and hangout with them, but we are here as part of the sacrifice we have to make.”
The Super Eagles handler blamed their three consecutive Christmas celebrations in camp on the poor structure of the country’s domestic leagues.
“Every national league in Europe that I know works accordingly with the national team so that things will work in a marriage form. But here in Nigeria it is a different ball game. We are going for a big competition in Africa and the leagues are not on.
“The boys are not playing in any competition. How are they going to be in form? I just want to do my job, but honestly speaking it is not good,” Keshi said.
He therefore urged Nigerians not to expect too much from the team as there was nothing on ground to prepare them for the championship. Keshi insisted that with the leagues on break, Nigerians would be asking for too much if they expected the team to lift the CHAN trophy.
“It is not possible to say I will win the trophy because what is going on here is very difficult to get us the result, but we will try to do our best.”
By the weekend, Taraba United goalkeeper, Ibrahim Pius, became the fourth goalkeeper in camp after getting a quick call-up. Chigozie Agbim, Daniel Akpeyi of Heartland and Golden Eaglets’ Dele Alampasu are the other three keepers. Pius was recently signed from Rangers International of Enugu by Taraba United.
The Eagles will on Friday play Kano Pillars in one of their last practice matches before the tourney. The match has been scheduled for the Abuja National Stadium in the morning.
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