Brazil 2014: No automatic shirt for any Nigerian player, Keshi says

Coach Keshi says he is still working on the list of players to take to the World Cup.
The Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi, has said there will be no automatic shirt for any player going to the world cup.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES in a phone chat from Benin on Monday, the coach said there are basic criteria to be met by any player seeking to play at the World Cup, which commences in Brazil in June.
“No player has an automatic shirt, there’s no automatic shirt for anybody,” Keshi said. “There are standard criteria and it is going to be the usual ones; there won’t be any change.”
The Nigerian coach listed some of the criteria to be considered for selection of players.

“We want to see the players’ commitment level, their role and their form in their respective clubs.
“World cup is a month tournament, we also seek one team, one spirit,” he added.
Speaking on Leon Balogun, who has been in the news recently following his recuperation from the injury he sustained while debuting for Nigeria in a friendly, Keshi said, the player would be invited if he is fit enough and playing before the World Cup.
“If he can make it, he will be there. He also has to fight like any other person”.
The Eagles’ coach also rebuffed the suggestion that the World Cup squad will be dominated by players that starred when Nigerian won the African Nations Cup in 2013.
“I don’t know about that, I don’t know where you got that from. I am still selecting and have not yet made up our list. Nigeria has plenty of players, we just have to be guided on who to take or leave,” he said.
“The list is not ready; we are still searching and working on selection. The league is still on in Europe and Nigeria, so we are still looking.”
The deadline for World Cup list submission by participating countries is June 2.
The Nigerian squad will gather in London on May 26, two days before a friendly match against Scotland at Craven Cottage.
The team will also play two other friendly matches against U.S. and Greece in the United States before leaving for Brazil on June 11.
Nigeria is in Group F of the 2014 World Cup tournament alongside Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Argentina.
The World Cup will begin in Brazil on June 12 and Nigeria will be making her fifth appearance at the competition.