CHAN 2014: Eagles begin preparations without Keshi

Amokachi leads camp

The Super Eagles of Nigerian on Tuesday kick-started preparations for next year’s African Nations Championship, CHAN, in Abuja with a training session at the FIFA Goal Project site of the National Stadium. The team trained despite the absence of Head Coach, Stephen Keshi.

The Eagles, who are making a debut appearance at the African tourney reserved for professional players in their country’s domestic leagues, were taken through the day’s roster by Keshi’s assistant, Daniel “The Bull” Amokachi. He was assisted by Hyoudonou Valere and Ike Shourunmu.

According to team officials, Big Boss Keshi was still in Brazil where he attended Friday’s World Cup draws and was making preliminary checks on a suitable team base camp. He is expected to join the Abuja camp on Thursday.

Remarkably, all 30 players invited for the encounter arrived camp by Monday evening as directed by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, and the technical crew. They all took part in the training session, except for Ejike Uzoenyi, who had a slight fever and was asked to rest for the day.

During Tuesday’s training, Amokachi told the players that only the best would be selected for the tournament, which starts January 11 in South Africa. He insisted that there would be no sentiments in selection between the old and the new players in camp.

During the training, the coaches tried to assess the quality of players that were invited. It lasted a little over two hours and at the end of the session, Amokachi expressed joy at the players output.

Incidentally, the new invitees and members of the Golden Eaglets team that won the cadet World Cup recently in the UAE- goalkeeper Sunday Alampasu, and teammate, Taiwo Awoniyi- were the first to arrive camp on Monday.