Super Eagles Nigeria AFCON 2013 - Nigeria's head coach Stephen Keshi, basking on the euphoria of his team's resounding 4-1 defeat of Mali in the semi-final of the ongoing 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, has explained that his team is just beginning to take shape.
Before now, the Super Eagles were hardly regarded as title aspirants owing to their unimpressive performances.
But since scaling tough hurdles in the group stage and then beating pre-tournament favourite Cote d'Ivoire in the group stage, the team has started to soar.
Keshi explained that the team before now had not had the opportunity of training together for an appreciable length of time, hence it was not cohesive.
But the time they have spent time together in Faro, Portugal, and during the ongoing tournament has enabled them to blend, the coach says.
Asked to compare the present side to that of 1994, which is widely regarded as the best ever Nations Cup team from Nigeria, Keshi said he would not like to compare both teams.
“The 1994 team of which I am a member took five years to be build. But the present side is just five weeks old and therefore still in formative age.
“If I have the opportunity of building it, it will be one of the best in the world. But I am not sure if I will still be the coach after Sunday’s match,” Keshi said at the post match conference.
Pana 07/02/2013