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| Nigerian coach - Stephen Okechukwu Keshi |
Keshi knows the importance of this and has implored his
charges to go all out and ensure victory today. He quipped, “Records are to be
broken.” And trying not to get carried away by the task at hand, he said “It
will be a great achievement. But, I prefer to take it one game at a time
because no one gave us a chance to be here in the first place. Every professional
wants to have his name written in gold and I would love that, but we must work
hard at every step to achieve that.”
The Malian national football team should not be new to Keshi
since he worked with the team as manager between April 2008 and January 2010
when the country’s FA sacked him for failure to tinker the team beyond the
group stages of the Nations Cup.
Though Nigeria has a fearful pedigree in the Nations Cup, the
last time Nigeria was at this stage of the competition was in the 2010 edition
in Angola, and has played a record 13 semifinals and 6 finals in the history of
the Nations Cup while Mali played in the finals once, losing to Congo 3-2.
The Black Stars of Ghana lock horns with The Stallions of
Burkina Faso today in the other semifinal match at the Mbombela Stadium in
Nelspruit at 7:30 pm (GMT+1).
My own Super Eagles will soar higher
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