Stephen Keshi: Nigeria Need To Gain More Experience

The Super Eagles coach conceded victory to a better team after his side lost 3-0 to Spain on Sunday night in Fortaleza

By Eric Gomez

GOAL DOT COM, Sunday, June 23, 2013

What he's learned from Spain and the Confederations Cup

We lost the match because we played against a better side, a team that has been good for a very long time. It's a learning process for us, we just have to continue what we started tonight and build.

The teams and the coaches that I spoke with, have been very educative for us. We're going back with some sort of education from this tournament.

On the nature of his strikers missing up front

I think there was so much anxiety in front of the goal line, the good thing is that we created chances but we didn't finish them. Hopefully it's going to come quickly.

On fair nature of the result

Yeah, if you look at the game - three goals was not fair. But, this is football and it happens.

Is Brazil or Spain the favourite?

Well, I don't know all of world football. I'm learning. I can't say if Spain is better than Brazil. In this tournament, the best team doesn't always win. I can't put money on anyone.

On absence of key players for Nigeria at the tournament

I think so, because when you look at the other teams, they have their complete team, their first-team. In the last matches we lost four or five key players and today we lost another key player in the centre half, it was damaging. It's football, we have to live with it.

What will Nigeria do if they make the WC?

If we qualify, we have questions. We're still in the process of qualifying, so I can't tell you what we're going to do yet.

On why the team lost so much composure in the second half

It's a learning process for us. This is a team that hardly goes down 2-0 and when put in that position, they lost the composition, the shape of the team. It was a major problem. In the first half we were very composed, but when we conceded the second goal in the second half, we became unprofessional. We need more experience.

On his reaction to Alba scoring two goals

"It's the game. When I was playing I scored 10, 11 goals a season. Just because you're a defender doesn't mean you can't help your team make a difference up front. I've seen a lot of good defenders scoring goals. Goals win games, and it doesn't matter (who scores).