Why I Failed Nigeria - Keshi

 

Keshi, who was reinstated to his post last month after he was first eased out by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), said that a coach must take full responsibility for the result of his team, adding that he has to accept the fate that befell the Eagles under his watch.

According to him, the absence of the Eagles to defend their AFCON title in the African tournament next year means that he has failed the country.

He noted that if a team fail, sacking of the coach won’t solve the problem, rather the authority should look beyond the coach to find solutions to the problem.

Keshi, however, blamed his players for taking South Africa lightly in a match they needed to win to qualify for the tournament proper.

“May be we took South Africa for granted and we paid dearly for this,” said the coach.

Scorer of Nigeria’s two goals on Wednesday Sone Aluko said the whole team are devastated by the failure to defend the crown they won in South Africa last year.

“I am disappointed, everybody is disappointed,” said Hull City forward Aluko.

“We did not get the result we wanted, and we now have to pick ourselves up as a team.”

Former Nigeria skipper Segun Odegbami said he has yet to recover from the shock and that South Africa, who have had a poor head-to-head record against Nigeria, must now be taken a lot more seriously.

“I’m numbed with shock we are not going to the Nations Cup,” he said.

“We have always taken South Africa for granted, believing we can take them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they have now shown us that this is an end of era.”