Keshi bemoans Eagles display

Off the hook:Nigeria force draw against impressive Amavubi NIGERIA head coach Stephen Keshi expected more from his side in Wednesday’s goalless 2013 African Nations Cup first leg qualifier against Rwanda.

Friday, March 02, 2012
Stephen Keshiu2019s assistant Daniel Amokachi could not hide his frustration at the end of the match. The New Times/T. Kisambira.

Off the hook:Nigeria force draw against impressive AmavubiNIGERIA head coach Stephen Keshi expected more from his side in Wednesday’s goalless 2013 African Nations Cup first leg qualifier against Rwanda.In a post match interview, the former Super Eagles captain conceded that his team had put in a lackluster performance and were lucky not to concede a goal against a very mobile and motivated Amavubi side."I’m not satisfied with our performance. We tried to blend our domestic players with the professionals and maybe this could have had an effect on the game but overall, it was a below par display,” he conceded.Keshi also admitted that Amavubi’s poor finishing kept the Super Eagles in the contest."My consolation is that we did not lose,” said Keshi, who was taking charge of his first competitive game since he was named Nigeria coach back in November, 2011."Amavubi had several chances to win it but they failed so we now have the advantage.”  "It was difficult to get the right cohesion in the team because we only had one training session before the game,” he added.The Super Eagles skipper Joseph Yobo complemented his coach by admitting that Nigeria had been lucky not to lose.The match-up between Nigeria, ranked 56th in the world and Rwanda, who are rated 108, finished goalless at Nyamirambo stadium with Amavubi guilty of throwing away several chances in a game they dominated."We were lucky to escape defeat against Rwanda,” said Yobo, who set a new Nigeria record for international appearances when he won his 87th cap in Kigali. "The only positive from this game was the performance of the players from the domestic league,” added the Fenerbache centre back.The second leg match will be played in Abuja on June 17.