2014 World Cup - warm up - Nigeria vs Greece 0:0

Keshi feels these games have given him and his players an insight into what lies ahead. "All I need is the mentality and discipline to dominate the game and take chances," he added. "In friendlies you can correct your mistakes but in a tournament it can cost us dearly.

5 Jun 2014
NATIONAL TEAM - COACH - SA will not renew the contract of coach Gordon Igesund

 "The contract of Gordon Igesund will not be renewed when it expires on August 31," national football association president Danny Jordaan told a Soweto news conference.

4 Jun 2014
2014 World Cup - squad - Nosa Igiebor cut from Nigeria squad

Nosa Igiebor is one of the seven players to be dropped from Nigeria's final 23-man squad for the World Cup. The Real Betis midfielder and Parma's Joel Obi, who both faced Scotland in last week's 2:2 draw, have been plagued by injury this season. The other players to miss out are goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi, midfielders Ejike Uzoenyi and Nnamdi Oduamadi.

4 Jun 2014
2015 Africa Cup qualifier - 2nd round- fixtures

Qualifying - second round- fixtures

• 18.-20.07.14: Congo vs Rwanda -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Rwanda vs Congo -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Benin vs Malawi -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Malawi vs Benin -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Lesotho vs Kenya -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Kenya vs Lesotho -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Sierra Leone vs Seychelles -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Seychelles vs Sierra Leone -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Uganda vs Equatorial Guinea -:-
• 01.-13.08.14: Equatorial Guinea vs Uganda -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Tanzania vs Mozambique -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Mozambique vs Tanzania -:-

• 18.-20.07.14: Botswana vs Guinea Bissau -:-
• 01.-03.08.14: Guinea Bissau vs Botswana -:-

 

3 Jun 2014
2014 World Cup - squad - Idrissou dropped from Cameroon squad

Mohamadou Idrissou is one of the five players to be dropped from Cameroon's final squad for the World Cup. The 34-year-old Kaiserslautern striker has struggled in recent times and missed a penalty in a 2:1 friendly loss to Paraguay last week. Otherwise coach Volker Finke has opted for a tried and trusted line-up for his World Cup squad. 

3 Jun 2014
2015 Africa Cup qualifier - 1st round- 2nd leg - all results

Lesotho an Rwanda advance in AFCON qualifying

2 Jun 2014
2014 World Cup - warm up - Eto'o helps Cameroon to draw with Germany

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's late equaliser earned Cameroon a 2:2 draw in a friendly in Germany. Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring just after the hour when he turned in from Choupo-Moting's pass.

2 Jun 2014
2015 Africa Cup qualifier - 1st round- 2nd leg - results so far

Rwanda pull off surprise win over Libya - Rwanda shocked Libya in the second leg of their 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, winning 3:0 at home to progress to the next round.

• Rwanda vs Libya 3:0
• Uganda vs Madagascar 1:0
• Sierra Leone vs Swaziland 1:0
• South Sudan vs Mozambique 0:0
• Comoros Islands vs Kenya 1:1
Lesotho vs Liberia 2:0

1 Jun 2014
2014 World Cup - Ghana - squad - Jeffery Schlupp dropped from 23-man squad

Leicester City's Jeffery Schlupp has been axed from Ghana's 2014 World Cup squad. The defender is one of three players dropped from the preliminary 26-man World Cup squad announced on 12 May.

1 Jun 2014

2014 World Cup - warm up - Nigeria vs Greece 0:0

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has said that his side will have to improve if they are to make an impact at the World Cup in Brazil. He was talking after they drew 0:0 with fellow World Cup finalists Greece in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Both sides created chances but lacked a clinical edge to find the target. "We will always have very difficult games but the motivation will be to do a lot better than we managed in our last couple of games." Keshi said.

"The truth is we didn't play our game. The importance of a friendly game is to know your weakness and what needs improvement. "What I found out is that we were not able to keep the ball in our possession.

The whole idea was to control the game." Nigeria's best chances fell to Stoke City's Peter Odemwingie, Michael Babatunde (Volyn Lutsk), Ogenyi Onazi (Lazio) and Chelsea's Victor Moses late on but all of them failed to find the back of the net.

The Nigerians also drew 2:2 with Scotland last week and Keshi feels these games have given him and his players an insight into what lies ahead. "All I need is the mentality and discipline to dominate the game and take chances," he added. "In friendlies you can correct your mistakes but in a tournament it can cost us dearly. "So we'll see how it goes in the next game because that is another chance to improve on this performance."

The next friendly for the African champions will come against the USA on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. The team depart for Brazil on 8 June to prepare for their first match of the tournament against Iran in Curitiba eight days later. They then play Bosnia-Hercegovina and finish their Group F campaign against Argentina as they attempt to reach the Last 16, as they did in 1994 and 1998.

 

Did you know?
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi is still searching for a first win against European opposition since he took charge in 2011.

 

Greece

 

5 Jun 2014
(BBC Sport by Oluwashina Okeleji)

Related countries

Related articles