The camp of the Super Eagles will now officially open on May 18, ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations first leg qualifier against Chad at the Abuja National Stadium.
The earlier date given was May 17, but league games expected to be played that weekend, the players have given the 18th and 19th of May to report to the team’s Abuja camp ahead of the game against the Chadians.
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Chadians comes up on June 13 in Abuja, and as expected, the Super Eagles camp will be opened by home based players.
Keshi, in the earlier stages of his stint as the Super Eagles head coach always opened the Super Eagles camp with home based players, most times for weeks for the games, but that program was eventually discarded.
And with the pressure now on him to take Nigeria to the Gabon 2017 Africa Cup of Nations after failing to do so the last time, the ‘Big Boss’ said during his signing ceremony for his present two-year contract that he would like to resume the program.
He said: “I’ve always enjoyed working with the home based lads. It’s not something new to me because I did it earlier and haven’t deviated and I hope to continue with it.
“Every time we come to camp and I see them, I’m always happy and it is a good thing that most of them have now gone on to become core members of the team and I hope to continue building on that,” he said.