I missed Mikel, Emenike -Keshi

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi says he missed the services of midfielder John Obi Mikel and striker Emmanuel Emenike in Nigeria’s 2-0 victory over South Africa at the Nelson Mandela Challenge played on Wednesday.


“I missed Mikel, Emenike and Kenneth Omeruo and numerous other players, and my players missed them too. The good thing is that we are not building the team around individual players, we are rather working as a unit,” he told a press conference in South Africa.

“Our team has been evolving for a while. We played with a couple of players who haven’t been with the team for a while like, Victor Obinna Nsofor and Shola Ameobi who didn’t quite get into our movements off the ball and on the ball but will be gradually re-integrated as we go on.

“Bafana were expecting them in the first half, so I kept them to see how they measured up. They are not here to eat, so I had to put Uche (Nwofor) along with Moses and Musa and they delivered.”