An exasperated Keshi said after the match at the Cape Town Stadium last weekend that he is prosecuting the biennial competition with a bunch of inexperienced players.
"I was expecting this kind of result because of the anxiety that comes with this kind of championship for players that have not been exposed to tournaments like this,” the man who coached Togo to the 2006 World Cup declared.
He stated that the CHAN opener defeat has served as a lesson for his players to up their game while acknowledging that the Malians deserved victory on the day.
"We did not play our game. We only started playing well in the last five to 10 minutes and that
was too late. At the half time break, I asked them to feel free and express themselves and I don't know if
that worked because we still lost the game," said the former coach of Mali.
He also blamed the lacklustre performance of his wards to lack of competition on the domestic scene just as he savoured the great opportunity being provided for local players to be exposed.
"I think this is a perfect opportunity for home-based players to move forward and get exposure. If it’s about the league of each country, we have been out of action for like four months and we have had these players for only three weeks, but I don't know if that was responsible for today," Keshi who captained Nigeria to the 1994 World Cup said.
Mali had through the goals from Abdoulaye Sissoko (18th minute) and Adama Traore (50th minute) recorded their first ever victory over Nigeria at the senior level, with Gbolahan Salami's glancing header in the 54th minute serving as consolation for the African champions.
Nigeria will on Wednesday also in Cape Town face the Mambas of Mozambique who also suffered a
1-3 loss to the hosts, Bafana Bafana in the first group A match.
Caption: Stephen Keshi.
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