Keshi: Why I dropped Mikel For Chad Clash
Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has explained that he left out Chelsea FC of England midfielder Mikel Obi from the team that will play Chad in an African Cup of Nations qualify on mutual consent.
Keshi said in a parley with the media last Saturday that there was no
malice in his dropping of Mikel from the Chad game pointing that he
discussed with Mikel before he invited players for this weekend game in
Kaduna.
"I don’t have problem with Mikel. I spoke with him before i invited his co players for this game. We don’t need him at this moment. In September we might need his services if he is available" the Big Boss stated.
Keshi fumed at those who are of the opinion that he should have used more home based players to play Chad stressing that he and assistants took the decision to use our best legs for the game because there are no longer minnows of the game in Africa.
He said that though the home based players have the potential and quality to face any side but that there was not enough time to prepare them for this game on Saturday.
"With the quality of players we have at home, we can build a strong squad capable of beating Chad or any other country. For me coaching the home based to play against Chad will be a little bit difficult.
"The thing is that if we take 23 home boys to play against Chad, the same Nigerians will say is this man crazy, how he can call only home based players, what happened to the foreign based professionals. My brothers it is not easy to please everybody," he stated.
Keshi continued "if i invite only foreign based players they will still complain, so we have to do the right and get the result. The ultimate is to qualify for AFCON in Gabon in 2017," Keshi quipped.
"I don’t have problem with Mikel. I spoke with him before i invited his co players for this game. We don’t need him at this moment. In September we might need his services if he is available" the Big Boss stated.
Keshi fumed at those who are of the opinion that he should have used more home based players to play Chad stressing that he and assistants took the decision to use our best legs for the game because there are no longer minnows of the game in Africa.
He said that though the home based players have the potential and quality to face any side but that there was not enough time to prepare them for this game on Saturday.
"With the quality of players we have at home, we can build a strong squad capable of beating Chad or any other country. For me coaching the home based to play against Chad will be a little bit difficult.
"The thing is that if we take 23 home boys to play against Chad, the same Nigerians will say is this man crazy, how he can call only home based players, what happened to the foreign based professionals. My brothers it is not easy to please everybody," he stated.
Keshi continued "if i invite only foreign based players they will still complain, so we have to do the right and get the result. The ultimate is to qualify for AFCON in Gabon in 2017," Keshi quipped.
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