Chris Maduewesi
Member
Lawal,not afraid to speak his mind said that Keshi cost Nigeria the tournament,adding that he was tactically deficient.
Speaking further on how Nigeria lost the game,Lawal who played at the 1994 and 1998 World Cup said Keshi did not have a back-up plan after Ogenyi Onazi got injured in the 2-0 loss to France.
“I can say Eagles lost to France because coach Stephen Keshi lacked tactical knowledge. When an important player is injured, there must be a very good option in same frame with the player to come on, but that was not to be in the game,” said Garba, who is on the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF),"Lawal told AfricanFootball.com
“We all saw the French substitution, (Olivier) Giroud was replaced by Antoine Greizemann, who made the attack stronger and scored a goal.
“Eagles also lacked character. The French allowed us to play in the first half and we couldn’t punish them with goals, we started well but didn’t have the attitude to carry on the same way.”