Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has moved to quell the achievement of leading Nigeria to the knockout stage of the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Brazil, stating his focus to reach the quarterfinals instead.
16 months after leading Nigeria to winning the Cup of Africa Nations in South Africa, Keshi has become the first African to take an African side to the knockout stage of the World Cup.
Those feats are in addition to being the only African to lead two nations to the World Cup as well as being one of two persons, after Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary, to win the Nations Cup as player and coach.
Speaking with the BBC, the former Togo and Mali coach refused to be carried away by the feat, stating ”What is important is to focus on what lies ahead – not Stephen Keshi and his record. We are not bothered about the past but only interested in this present day.”
Keshi added that ”My boys know what I expect and our opponents will not make life easy for them. The Super Eagles have never made it to the quarterfinals so they can make history of their own. There’s no motivation bigger than that.”
Nigeria take on France in a second round match on Monday in the first competitive meeting between both nations at the senior level, with their only previous encounter ending in a 1-0 friendly win for Nigeria in 2009.