Stephen Keshi believes his side paid for their inexperience after they lost to Uruguay at the Confederations Cup.
The Super Eagles went down 2-1 to La
Celeste (The Sky Blue One) in Salvador, Brazil on Thursday, but Keshi
insisted that the result would have been different if his players were
“a little more professional”.
“I wouldn’t say Uruguay surprised me,” the former Nigeria captain was quoted by FIFA.com as saying after the encounter.
“We watched their last two games and they played just the way we expected.
“What you have to remember, though, is
that they’ve spent six years together, whereas we’ve only been working
for a year and half. It all came down to a question of concentration. We
switched off for the second goal and it cost us the game.”
The Tunisia ’94 Africa Cup of Nations
winner added, “I think my players played well and played to
instructions. It was just one minute’s lack of concentration that made
the difference. Otherwise it was good.”
He praised the team for improving
throughout the encounter in which Diego Forlan celebrated his 100th
appearance for Uruguay in style, setting up one goal then scoring the
winner to move his team within sight of the semifinals.
Mikel Obi equalised for the African
champions on 37 minutes after he eluded the Uruguay captain Diego Lugano
to finish with some class from the edge of the South American
champions’ box.
“Keshi said, “I’m very proud of what my
boys did, considering the difference in experience between the two
sides. I hope we can maintain this standard and just up the
concentration levels a bit and be a little more professional.”
He rued the team’s missed opportunities in the encounter, promising to work on his attack.
Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said he expected a difficult encounter and hailed Forlan his performance.
“Since the draw was made we’ve been saying this was our big game,” the 66-year-old said.
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