“My players played well and played to instructions” – Keshi defends players after Uruguay loss

Stephen Keshi has defended his players, after their 1-2 loss to Uruguay, insisting that they played to his instructions. The Super Eagles coach stated that only a loss of concentration led to defeat.

Diego Lugano gave the South American champions the lead, before Mikel Obi levelled up with a composed finish. However, Diego Forlan smashed in the winner six minutes after the break, to hand his team the crucial points.

“My players played well and played to instructions,” Keshi said. “It was just one minute’s lack of concentration that made the difference, otherwise it was good.”

Keshi also reiterated that he was using the Confederations Cup, to give some of his squad members a run-out, as he continues rebuilding the national side.

He said: “This team is still growing. We are the youngest team at this tournament and this competition is going to help in the development of these players. We are still rebuilding, but very soon we will catch up with the rest of the world.”

Ahead of Nigeria’s last group game, Keshi expressed confidence in his tactics and said they won’t do anything different.

“It doesn’t matter who we are playing … as long as the boys do what we want them to do, we will just play our game,” he said.

“Against Uruguay they did everything we asked them to do. We had more possession, we had more shots on goal, but we just didn’t take our chances.”