Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has said he was not surprised his team of inexperienced players fell 2-1 to Mali in Saturday’s opening CHAN game.
The Malians recorded their first-ever win against Nigeria at full international level, defeating their West African rivals 2-1 in Cape Town on Saturday.
“I was expecting this kind of result because of the anxiety that comes with this kind of championship for players that have not been exposed to tournaments like this,”MTNFootball.com quoted Keshi as saying after the game.
“Well what happened was that we did not play our game. We only started playing in the last 5 to 10 minutes and that was too late. “In the half time break, I asked them to feel free and express themselves and I don’t know if that worked because we still lost the game.”
Keshi lamented that the Nigerian league has ended four months ago. “I think this is a perfect opportunity for home-based players to move forward and get exposure.
If it’s about the league of each country, we have been out of action for like four months and we have had these players for only three weeks, but I don’t know if that was responsible for today,” he said.
Mali coach Djibril Drame said he was delighted to edge past the African champions. “It’s a joy and pride we feel today because we have just beaten the Africa champions,” he said. “It was not an easy game.
First matches are very important. Tactically, we were very well placed after watching tapes of how the Nigerians play, we ensured that our tactics changed and it worked for us.”
He said his team will now focus on next game against group leaders South Africa, who beat Mozambique 3-1 also on Saturday.
The Malians recorded their first-ever win against Nigeria at full international level, defeating their West African rivals 2-1 in Cape Town on Saturday.
“I was expecting this kind of result because of the anxiety that comes with this kind of championship for players that have not been exposed to tournaments like this,”MTNFootball.com quoted Keshi as saying after the game.
“Well what happened was that we did not play our game. We only started playing in the last 5 to 10 minutes and that was too late. “In the half time break, I asked them to feel free and express themselves and I don’t know if that worked because we still lost the game.”
Keshi lamented that the Nigerian league has ended four months ago. “I think this is a perfect opportunity for home-based players to move forward and get exposure.
If it’s about the league of each country, we have been out of action for like four months and we have had these players for only three weeks, but I don’t know if that was responsible for today,” he said.
Mali coach Djibril Drame said he was delighted to edge past the African champions. “It’s a joy and pride we feel today because we have just beaten the Africa champions,” he said. “It was not an easy game.
First matches are very important. Tactically, we were very well placed after watching tapes of how the Nigerians play, we ensured that our tactics changed and it worked for us.”
He said his team will now focus on next game against group leaders South Africa, who beat Mozambique 3-1 also on Saturday.
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