TheCable

Stephen Keshi feels his players would have won against Iran on Monday had his players not being “nervous and unsettled”.

In stark contrast to the attacking nature of the tournament where a total of 41 goals had been scored prior to this game, Nigeria and Iran showed little creativity and the final whistle was met by a cacophony of boos from the fans, mainly Brazilians, as the Arena da Baixada encounter finished goalless.

Speaking after the game, Keshi blamed nerves and impatience from his players who seemingly ran out of ideas when confronted with Iran coach Carlos Queiroz’s defensive tactics.

“They want to go like horses and get it done in two minutes. They have to have patience,” Keshi told reporters.

“I think it took a toll on them when the goal was not coming.  The boys were nervous and unsettled – you don’t do that at this stage. It happens in football. We really didn’t perform as expected but we have to move on.”

Keshi knows his team will have to do better in their next game against Bosnia.

“I wanted a win but we must take a draw. We must do better to get a win against Bosnia.”

On his part, John Mikel Obi, who had the dubious honour of being named man of the match, was left frustrated at the approach of Iran in the game.

Mikel, who tried to orchestrate Nigerian attacks from deep, felt displeased at his side’s inability to find the back of the net, which to him, had much to do with Iran’s tactics on the day.

“We are all disappointed,” he said after the game.

“The first game of every tournament is very important.

“When you watch the way Iran played, they had 11 men behind the ball the entire game and it was hard for us to create chances.  They sat back and it became difficult.

“It was a game we wanted to win, but they wanted to play a bit different.”

Nigeria are still looking for their first win at the World Cup since 1998 and the result puts them under added pressure to beat Bosnia on Saturday in a group currently topped by Argentina.