STEPHEN KESHI: My Half Time Talk Motivated Eagles

Super Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has given some insight on what transpired in the dressing room when his team was trailing 0-3 in Saturday’s crunch quarter final battle against the Atlas Lions of Morocco.

Keshi in the post-match conference said he told his players that they were simply not playing their game.

 “What I told them at half time was that we were not the one playing like that, I told them they were giving too much respect to the Moroccans. Even though they are a good team, they don’t deserve such from us, we are supposed to take our game to them and that is what they did in the second half. I told them I want to see the same character or more like they displayed in the game against Bafana Bafana and they did that,” he said.


Also, the captain of the Eagles, Chigozie Agbim, said his colleagues rightly admitted they were only a shadow of themselves in the first half and made the decision to right their wrongs in the second half.

The goalkeeper also stated the players’ resolve not to return to Nigeria but wait for the final of the tournament and possibly lift the trophy.

Keshi is not new to masterminding comebacks as he similarly did with the Eagles of Mali in 2010 to come back from four goals down to tie Angola 4-4 in an Africa Nations Cup match.

“Yes I remember the Mali game but this one today is something else,” the Eagles coach said.