By John EGBOKHAN
Coach Stephen Keshi is in a desperate search for the right blend that will spur the Eagles to glory at the African Nations Championship kicking off next month in South Africa.

Eagles have been drawn in Group A, comprising hosts South Africa, Mali and Mozambique, with the top two finishers progressing to the first knockout round of the competition designed players playing their professional football in Africa.

It is the first time that the Eagles are qualifying for the tournament, which is in its third edition and despite having not featured in the event before, expectations are high amongst Nigerian football fans that the team will excel in South Africa, the same country that the Super Eagles, with Keshi as coach, won their third Nations Cup crown last February.

The Eagles open their CHAN account against Mali on January 11 in Cape Town, followed by subsequent games against Mozambique on January 15 and South Africa on January 19.

Stephen Keshi with Mikel Obi

And speaking on his team’s preparations for the 16-nation tournament, Keshi said in Abuja that his main worry was striking the right chord of training to get the players in top-shape for the competition.

“My biggest challenge since we started preparing here is getting the right balance for the players during the training because most of these players are from different clubs and have different training retinue and since we have lost some of our key players to foreign clubs, which makes them ineligible for the tournament, there is the challenge of getting the players used to the system here.

“Honestly, I don’t know the kind of training they are used to in their clubs, so I have to take it easy on them and get them to do it my way, so that we can be a strong force at the competition”, added Keshi