BY JACOB AJOM

Any invited Super Eagles player that fails to turn up at the team’s camp in Abuja by tomorrow will only have himself to blame as the team’s gaffer Stephen Keshi has vowed to wield the hammer on all defaulters.

Although chief coach Keshi would not disclose the type of punishment that awaits late arrivals, he insisted on tomorrow as deadline for the arrival of players as the team’s preparations for the 2013 Nations Cup qualifiers begin in earnest in the Federal Capital Territory.

Keshi

Preliminaries for the continental fiesta begin in January but Nigeria’s first match comes up against Rwanda on February 29 in the first of a two-legged fixture.

In a chat with Sports Vanguard, Keshi said the camp will be on till January 16th as it would provide him and the players the opportunity to meet and train as part of the build up to the qualifiers.

“We must prepare very well and blend as a team before Rwanda. We still have time and I am sure by the time we allow the players to go back their clubs, we would have achieved a lot,” the coach said.

Keshi believes in the quality of the home-based players as he intends to form the bulk of his team from the local league.

“We will take this process in stages,” he said, adding, “after the first phase, some will have to go while some new ones will be introduced. Everybody will be given a chance to prove himself.”