Keshi, Eagles in telephone conversation

It was a surprise dinner evening for national team players on Friday evening, as Coach Stephen Okechukwu Keshi put a call across when the team gathered and asked to speak to the entire team through teleconference.

Assistant Coach Dan ‘The Bull’ Amokachi and Team Coordinator, Emmanuel Attah, moderated the interaction between Keshi, the players and other team members in­cluding the back-room staff. Keshi, who is presently holi­daying in Benin City, told the players to take instructions from his assistants, Amokachi, Houandonou Valere and Ike Shorunmu seriously.
He added that he believed in the present home-based squad to acquit themselves well against Ivory Coast and Sudan, adding that they should show no respect to big names, because they no longer play football by name but current form.
“The players you are going to play against don’t have two heads or four legs and they are not more talented than you, so you can beat them and tell them that football is not dead in Nigeria”, he said.
The conversation was a sign that the team remains in the mind of the national team handler, even when he’s yet to put pen to paper for a new contract.
Meanwhile, the team will this morning take on the Na­tional Youth Service Corps (NYSC), soccer team in a test match at the Abuja National Stadium in the Federal Capi­tal.