CHAN 2014: Keshi “Satisfied” With Eagles’ Tactical Approach in Saturday’s Win Over Ethiopia.

The Super Eagles team B defeated the Walyas Antelopes of Ethiopia 2-1 at the Abuja National Stadium on Saturday.

The CHAN-bound Eagles dominated play in the first-half and were 2-0 up at the interval, but the East Africans stepped up their play in the second-half, pulling one goal back.

Enyimba striker Ifeanyi Ede scored the opener for the home-based Eagles following a great team play eight minutes after kick-off.

Midfielder Ugonna Uzochukwu doubled the hosts’ advantage in the 26th minute, jumping high to meet a long ball and then stylishly tapped home.

Omed Okwuri smashed past skipper and goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim in the final ten minutes of the warm-up match.

The Coach Stephen Keshi-tutored side are due to fly out to South Africa on Tuesday.

Home-Based Eagles Performance Delights Stephen Keshi.
Home-Based Eagles Performance Delights Stephen Keshi.

Meanwhile Keshi has expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance- especially in the first-half- in their final warm-up game ahead of the 2014 CHAN tournament.

He said: “I am very impressed with the performance of the team especially on tactical play. If I get this kind of performance in all our games in CHAN, I will be satisfied.

“We played against a very good side. This is the first team of Ethiopia, very experienced team, they have been together for a long time and my boys played under a little pressure, they wanted to impress the crowd, they wanted to impress the media.

“The first half they played together and I think it should be like that, but in days to come they would improve.

“We are not yet a team, we are still working. You cannot get a team under three weeks, it’s impossible, expect you are magician.”

Ethiopia coach Sewnet Bishaw said his team have learnt some lessons from this outing.

“The purpose for today’s game was to get experience for the younger players even though they have been together for long. So the purpose of this game is just for exposure and we have learnt a lot from the game,” he said.

“We have never conceded a goal from a throw-in. Today we saw that goals can be scored from throw-ins, we have learnt from that and we will try to correct our mistakes.”