Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi spoke to FIFA.com about his squad ahead of their Group F opener against Iran
FIFA: Stephen: You got such a great reception when you got to the team hotel. How pleased were you?
Very pleased. Very pleased because it was something that we were not expecting. And we came so late in the morning and they were still waiting for us just to give us a welcome back. It was good.
Are you satisfied with Nigeria’s level or can you still improve?
We can be much better. This squad is probably a year-plus old, it’s a new team. Most of the players are young. We’re still in the process of getting much better at what we do. In two years’ time we can be much better.
What can the team achieve under you?
I don’t know. My dream is to build a strong team for Nigerians and give these players a reason to be footballers. And to show the many players that are coming up behind that they can become somebody in football. That’s my dream and that’s it.
How important is the team’s unity?
It’s very important because I think that most of the teams that I played for in Europe, in Africa, always had this unity, this oneness. I think it’s a great weapon to have in your team because everyone is there, fighting for one another, playing for one another, which is a great thing. I’ve known this all my life as a football player, and now as a coach I’m experiencing the same thing. This is the way we got to qualify. Togo also qualified for the World Cup in 2006 because we were united. We had more spirit moving forward. It was the same thing in Mali when I was there as well. I think it’s working so I just keep on.
You have a wealth of experience in the squad. How will this help you progress?
You can’t buy this sort of experience. I pray that Vincent Enyeama, [Joseph] Yobo, [John] Mikel Obi will bring all their experience. Youth is good, but if we can combine youth and experience that will be great for us.
First up for Nigeria are Iran, whose coach has a good deal of experience. What are your views on the Iranians?
I think an experienced coach is their biggest weapon, because he’s well experienced, he knows the game well. For the Iran game we have to be focused. We have to concentrate and do our job. We’re not going to take Iran lightly because they’re not going to take us lightly. So we have to go out with everything that we have. They have a very good coach and I’m sure they also have some quality players. We don’t know Iran very well, but we’ll see them on Monday.
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