NIGERIA/RWANDA NATIONS CUP QUALIFIER

This is because the 'Big Boss', as the Super Eagles' gaffer is fondly called, has sensationally declared that he won't promise Nigerians anything from the crucial tie.

'I'm not promising Nigerians anything, we will just prepare and go out there and play our game. I'm not that kind of coach that would promise heaven and earth. We're going to take it game by game and we hope to continue to consolidate as we play on,' Keshi told Saturday Sunsports.

The coach was reacting to the question as to whether he was under pressure to deliver a ticket to next year's Nations Cup in South Africa after Nigeria missed out on the recently concluded edition hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

'Pressure is part of life and the game of football is all about pressure. I don't need somebody to tell me that I have to qualify Nigeria for the 2013 Nations Cup and the 2014 World Cup. Any good coach would always want to qualify for big tournaments.

'The lesson we must learn from missing the 2012 Nations Cup is that we need to always prepare very well to avoid a repeat of that experience. Our planning and preparation need to be better,' the former Super Eagles' captain explained.

Asked whether he could draw any inspiration from the Zambian national team that won the last edition of the Nations Cup, Keshi, who has promised to build his team around the players in the domestic league, replied: 'The Zambian team has been together for about five years.

'The boys have been playing together and a bulk of them play their club football in Zambia, South Africa and Congo DR, which is good for them because the coach could have them at least once in three months after which they go back. But it takes time to gather professionals from Europe.

'Zambia's triumph at the Nations Cup means that every Nigerian player that is playing good football has the opportunity to play in the national team. I shall bring in any player that has something good to contribute to the team. If a player cannot do better than what I have, there's no point bringing him in.

'I really wish to build my team around the home-based players because that is what the European nations are doing at the moment. Even the Brazilians are doing the same thing. The players in the domestic league form the nucleus of the team while they complement with some players plying their trade in foreign leagues. But I'm not ready to work with players that are not prepared to stay with me for six months to one year,' he emphasized.

'Each time these players travel abroad for trials and fail to make it, they return to camp and I would start afresh to work on them. It slows me down and we cannot continue that way if we're really serious about building a formidable team that would be made up of players from the domestic league.'

He regretted the desperation among players in the domestic league to join the European train when, according to him, they were hardly ripe for European Leagues.

'It's rather unfortunate that the players in the domestic league are in a hurry to make it to Europe. They keep going and coming back without success because they're not ready for European football. You can imagine a player like Jude Aneke, the highest goal scorer in the Nigerian League with 20 goals last season going to Belgium for trials and coming back without success.

'Chibuzor Okonkwo, after playing many games for the Super Eagles and with all his international experience at the youth level, went to Turkey and failed to secure a team. He could not even succeed with a Nation-wide club in England. The same thing applied to Obinna Nwachukwu and Gbenga Arokoyo. They keep going and coming back to the Nigerian League because their managers deceive them.

'I've told the players in camp with me to relax. I'm ready to do the dirty job by working on them to bring them up to the European standard. At the end of the day, they and their managers are the ones that will enjoy the dividends.

'Nigerian players have quality, but they need to be worked on. I did it with the Togolese players. After working on them, it was the scouts that were coming to Togo to sign the players, rather than the players rushing to Europe for trials. That's what I want to do with Nigerian players in the domestic league and I've tried to explain this to them,' Keshi said.

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