Super Eagles gaffer, Stephen Keshi, has revealed that he almost suffered hypertension when his players were finding it difficult to penetrate Bosnia in the keenly contested second group F tie of the World Cup.
According to Keshi he was not comfortable when the Bosnia team were piling pressure on them, especially in the dying minutes of the game.
He however praised his boys for holding on to the one goal lead till the end of the game declaring that it was a display of strong character by his team.
The Delta born Chief tactician maintained that his boys are getting better by the day and is confident that they would even improve beyond what they played against the Bosnia team in their subsequent matches.
”I am happy that we won the game and the boys showed a little bit of character,” Keshi said after the game.
“Well, that is football. You can never have a smooth ride because you always have something on the way but the good thing is that we won and everyone is happy. In summary, I will say we are getting better at every game.”
Stephen Okechukwu Keshi also stressed that he is so happy that Ghana played a good match against Germany saying that the performances has some how brought some joy for Africa football followers.
“Everybody is happy in West Africa; Ghana got their result and we won. It’s good for the continent. The fighting spirit we showed was good. I never thought that we wouldn’t make the Round of 16. I have the players. But look at Iran today, if it was not for Lionel Messi. We need to work hard for the game against Argentina,”
Stephen Keshi has been under tremendous pressure from Nigerians after their not too performance against supposed group under dog, Iran, but he had promised that he was going to make amend in the match against Bosnia Herzegovina. Nigeria goal was scored by Stoke City of England striker, Osaze Odemwingie in the 29th minutes
Meanwhile, Nigeria beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 in their second Group F game of the Fifa 2014 World Cup played at the Arena Pantanal.
The vital goal was scored by Osaze Odemwingie in the first-half.
The game started in frantic fashion from the blast of the referees whistle as both sides tested each other for size.
The first notable chance of the game fell to Nigeria after Emmanuel Emenike won a free-kick which was taken by Ahmed Musa in the 3rd minute. The Bosnian defence cleared Musa’s effort, but it fell to Ogenyi Onazi who sent his effort over the bar.
Musa won a free-kick on the edge of the Bosnian box after he was pulled down by Hajrovic in the 7th minute. But the resulting free-kick by Odemwingie went inches wide off the right post.
Nigeria continued to press forward with the likes of Musa, Mikel Obi and Emenike in the thick of things. Onazi tested Begovic with a shot from distance after receiving a pass from Babatunde in the 15th minute.
Musa tried to surprise the Bosnian keeper with a shot from the right wing after receiving the ball from Odemwingie in the 20th minute, but Begovic was up to the task.
Edin Dzeko scored for Bosnia a minute later, but his goal was cancelled for offside.
Dzeko forced Enyeama to make a great save four minutes later after Onazi missed his tackle and allowed the strike break forward.
The Bosnians were gifted a number of chances courtesy of careless play by Nigeria’s midfielders, with Onazi and Mikel the biggest culprits.
Odemwingie gave Nigeria the much needed goal in the 29th minute after Emenike broke in powerfully from the right to square the ball for Odemwingie slotted the ball past Begovic.
After the goal, Nigeria sought to slow down the pace of the game, but it didn’t stop Dzeko from forcing a close save from Enyeama in the 33rd minute.
Bosnia had a number of half chances, but Nigeria managed to carry their lead into the break.
Dzeko wasted a chance to equalize for Bosnia in the 48th minute, as he ballooned a cross from Hajrovic. On the other end, Babatunde forced a fine save from Begovic with a shot from 20 yards.
Emenike continued to lead Nigeria’s onslaught in the game as he muscled his way continually into the vital area of the opponents, but there were no further goals in the game.
There were however scary moments in the dying minutes as Bosnia almost grabbed an equalizer, as Dzeko’s effort came off the post in added time. But Nigeria held on to secure their first World Cup win in 16 years.
Source: Daily Newswatch
