Keshi Slams Referee & Players For Immature Play

He will not apportion blames for Nigeria’s loss but the coach does admit that the players may have been a bit immature.

Nigeria lost in a very unfortunate manner; following the trends of other African teams like Ghana and Cameroon who lost out earlier in the first half, the team refused to train days before the last 16 game with France because they had not been monies owed them in bonuses and fees.

An agitation that was fast responded to by the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan and a Nigerian businessman, Mike Adenuga: they both sent money to the players.

Everyone thought that would motivate the players to play better against France but it was not enough to overcome a 2-0 defeat.

The coach and players insisted that the money issue did not stop or dissuade them from their play, however, immaturity may have been the cause.

Keshi said: ''Maybe some of the players were not mature enough, not enough focus on the game.

“I don’t know. It’s something we need to review, and see what we can come up with.”

In regards to the pay row, 52 year-old coach who quit his post as the coach of the National team after the defeat said that it has become a culture in Nigeria and was not a surprise thing.

‘’First of all, this is the culture in Nigeria.

“We have many stars and the authorities of the country, the president, [spoke] with us on the phone [to] try to motivate us and push us to do better.

“That’s what happened. Whatever money they [players] got was a bonus to encourage every individual to give his best.”

Keshi’s future has been a speculation over for some weeks with some side talks linking him to take over the vacant coaching job of the South African national team; a deal was rumoured to have been signed but the South African Football Association denied it.

Keshi also blamed the American official who was in charge of the game, claiming that he made a lot of mistakes, especially on the disallowed goal and the tackle that retired Ogenyi Onazi from the match which the referee treated with plain yellow card.

He said: "The referee is a human being and is bound to make mistakes, but a lot of mistakes is questionable,'' and concluded with  "I'm not happy with the officiating."