Coach Stephen Keshi has hailed the Malian team and their driving force ahead of Wednesday’s clash in the semi-finals of the Afcon 2013 between the Super Eagles and the Malian team, saying the civil war going on in their country is responsible for the fighting spirit the team has shown.
In a game that will decide who plays the final of the African Cup of Nations in Durban tomorrow, the two West African team will be going into the game with so much determination, as the Super Eagles has been touted the favourites by pundits after a stunning finish against earlier favourites Ivory Coast who were shown the way out of the competition by a now advanced Super Eagles team with a 2-1 victory in the quaterfinals on Sunday, but the Super eagles Coach is playing the favourites tag thing down, claiming he does not know about his team being the favourites for the Afcon 2013 but he is presently concerned with the team delivering the desired results .
“I don’t know anything about being the favourites to win the game or to win the championship. All we know is that we’re playing a very good side of Mali.
He said further he is wary of the Malian team for he has been with most of the players that made the Malian squad as the Afcon 2013 and he sure knows what damage these player are capable of doing to an opponent.
“I know at least 85 per cent of them played for me for two years. I know it’s not going to be easy; we’re here to play it game-by-game until the end of the tournament.
He however stated that from the kick-off whistle the Super Eagles are going headlong so as to get the desired results as no team can be underrated so playing Mali has to be with all seriousness
“So that’s how we’re going to approach it, the same way as we approached the previous games, the seriousness we’re going to put in. we respect every team that is here. “There is no team we will take for granted or for a joke. Our concentration will once again have to be at its peak.”
The coach condemned the crisis going on in Mali saying the Malians are lovely people and the country a great one and it is the crisis rocking the country that’s spurring the players on.
“It’s a shame what’s going on in Mali, a great country with wonderful people,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s a place I love. There’s no doubt this group of players is thinking about that and that’s where they’re getting their power, motivation force and spirit from.”
Keshi, a former coach of the Malian team and also that of Togo before he attained the position of the head coach of the super eagles where he was a former player 19 years ago and he also lifted the Afcon trophy as a captain in Tunisia 1994.
