Stephen Keshi says he would like to forget about the disappointment of Nigeria’s failure to defend their title in 1996 in South Africa after the irony of playing the final of the 2013 Africa Cup in Johannesburg where they face Burkina Faso on Sunday night.
Nigeria withdrew from defending their title in 1996 following a backlash over it human rights record during that period.
“What happened in 1994 we won and as for 1996 is out there I don’t like to talk about past, those things are out there,” Keshi said.
Keshi was captain of the 1994 winning team that beat Zambia 2-1 in Tunis.
Meanwhile, Captain Joseph Yobo said the current Nigeria team has defied its skeptics through unity.
“The difference is that there is a lot of unity that’s the difference for me from the other squads I have played in,” Yobo said.
“Unity was not that strong the way it is right now because we were from different cultures and places we come from.
“We are more solid now, we are closer because people didn’t give us a chance and that has made us work very hard.”
whatever, BFA wins by 4 goals to 1
in your face!! lol
ba LT, save us from this pain.
stop reminding us of the early exit.
Let this cup go to the Burkinabes and not Nigeria as this would show the World that African football knows no big names and favourites.
Its not names that play football but a plan and strategy to defeat the opponent.
BurkinaFaso draws its inspiration from Zambia’s 2012 performance at Afcon.SO this has made them stronger and determined.
There is a posibility that when you labour for a place in the final with struggle, chances are that you dont relax.
Burkina faso goes into the final from the backdrop of penalties and Nigeria also with 4-1, this makes Nigeria to relax thinking all is well thats when they will test defeat.
malinso- hope you ve the guts to put ur money where ur mouth or appropriately ur keyboard is.bad bele people !!! Up super Eagles ,Up Nigeria
Nigerian here is the right time we have being waitting for, we need victory at the up going AFCON final matche between Nigeria an Burkina Faso. We need to feel the glory God bless Nigeria.
these nigerians – i hope they lose!!
loser!
and the winner between these two useless teams will represent africa at the world cup and not zambia.
foolish caf….
just let the one who will emerge 2013 winners play zambia, the 2012 champions and the winner proceed to represent africa.
hahaha you zambian losers are still crying about being the shortest and poorest ‘champs’ ever?? jeez! give it a break man, dont hate the player…hate the game! I have said it time and again on here that Zambia were fluke winners last year, need i say more? and for the fool called @mature talking about useless teams, please take a closer look home. Nigeria has played AFCON 17times and has won 3 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals! only 3 times have we not got a medal. we’ve played in the world cup 4 times, and gone past the group stage twice. Won the olympic football gold (1996) and silver (2008). Please what has Zambia achieved apart from the fluke 11month title of last year? lol LOSER LEARN RESPECT YOUR BIG BROTHER!!!
there are over 150 million Nigerians. ofcource we should expect them to have a larger pool to get talent. scruffy over crowded Lagos should be Zambia’s population. They have only won the Africa cup 4 times. it’s not much considering their over-population. There is talent in Zambia and I dont believe Zambia’s win in 2012 was a fluke despite our short reign.
What is Keshi doing on this website, or you just want to promote rivaly between Zambia and Nigeria. In other words you want Keshi to be insulted even though he is a good corrupt guy.
no matter what happens Nigeria isgoing to lift the cup bcz i know why most ofu hate nigerians its bcz of ur low level of thinking thats why u hate them. go Nigeria .go
Obviously,the wrong team won.Burkinabes are more humble and deserved this cup more than Nigerians who are full of bravado,full of swagger and very bombastic.They love to belittle other african nations.Well done Burkina Faso you earned our respect.
hahaha you zambian losers are still crying about being the shortest and poorest ‘champs’ ever?? jeez! give it a break man, dont hate the player…hate the game! I have said it time and again on here that Zambia were fluke winners last year, need i say more? and for the fool called @mature talking about useless teams, please take a closer look home. Nigeria has played AFCON 17times and has won 3 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals! only 3 times have we not got a medal. we’ve played in the world cup 4 times, and gone past the group stage twice. Won the olympic football gold (1996) and silver (2008). Please what has Zambia achieved apart from the fluke 11month title of last year? lol LOSER LEARN RESPECT YOUR BIG BROTHER!!!
tuzamioona ba Nigeria zambia we are coming to retain our title.although we have poor quality players who after being given bunuses began to womanizing and drunkness. shame zambia.
@jolijo that is not only peculiar to Zambia.. that is just a phase that u are going thru right now as a footballing nation. The same thing happened to Senegal and they are yet to recover from it. It happened to eagles too but we recovered from it a bit quicker. Your players would learn from their mistakes and bounce back but I dont know how soon. It is important for u to look for sharp strikers to replenish your team.
Congratulations Keshi. It’s really hard to take anything away from Nigeria, you played the toughest in the tournament on paper and you earned your right to be found on the right hand side of history!
Thanks @Lord Veldemort… We appreciate ppl like you… When Zambia won in 2012 Nigerians were happy because it was exciting how Zambia pulled a surprise… No strange feelings, no hate, no bad wishes. I was just shocked to observe that most Zambians want us down… But I thank u anyways.
U Zambians are suffering from blatant paranoia. U do not want to accept that we Nigerians will outclass you in all ramifications. Instead, u prefer to call us all sorts of names. Do u think that that will change anything? Do u think that could have stopped us from lifting the cup yesterday? No matter how much u wish us evil, it is just wishes, What we’ll achieve we’ll achieve, we’re achievers, u are losers and that explains the reason why u identified with losing team in the Final when it was apparent that our team was bound to win. Altho B.Faso are great and we respect them. The more u wish us bad is the more we’re propelled to prove u all wrong. So ur bad wishes is our strength… We don’t wish u bad in Zambia.. but if u attempt to talk us down for no reason, we’ll put u in ur…
and my comment is not referring to the intelligent, objective and responsible Zambians.. I am talking to the Zambians that fits into the stereotype.
YOU KNOW THE REASON WHY….?
you guys are crooks, thats why.
This is why people all over the world hate loud mouth Nigerians like you @truth. I have good friends from Nigeria who are good mannered and do not think they are Super heroes, but I also know other stupid ones like u who think other people are irrelevant to life. I am sure you do not even play football because with an attitude like yours nobody can play football with u. Is Nigeria the first country to win the AFCON? I have not seen Egyptians or cameroonians insulting anybody simply because they win….why should pipo not like Nigeria to win the cup…its because of loud mouths, proud losers like u @truth. When Zambia won the cup last year everybody allover the world celebrated with them, in my country South Africa it was like our victory, but u loser @truth why don’t u learn from…
@ truth, Zambia is a good winner and a good loser as well. They only know how to play good football, and their soccer fans castigate them if they do not play well but celebrate like mad people if they win. Some of the best matches I have seen at Afcon have been between Zambia and Nigeria, and the players have no bad feelings against each other, why do u fight innocent Zambians? They are hospitable people may be u are even living in that country, learn from them and be civilized, I know them well enough, even though I have never lived in Zambia.
You my friend are a douchebag! Not even the Zambians commented on my statement and they know why! As you clearly didn’t understand the reason behind my rant you should have at least enquired before running your big unwelcome mouth! Next time dont be such a wuss you stupid ‘smart’ fellow