Former Nigeria player, Rabiu Afo­labi has described as ‘brave’ the per­formance of the Super Eagles at the recently con­cluded 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Though the African champions missed a chance of making the quarter final in the South American country, but the Salzburg player was is of the opinion that Keshi’s men gave a commanding performance and could have moved a step further if not for poor finishing.
“I think they performed bravely by qualifying from the group stage, compared to other African teams, except Algeria, who were all eliminated at the pre­liminaries,” Afolabi told Punch.
“Every department func­tioned well except for the poor finishing at the last third of the pitch.
“The first three matches were approached in a good and disciplined manner de­spite the rows over match bonuses prior to the game against France, which is not unusual.
“Hopefully, we can keep the team and build stability in this generation set of players”.
He also dismissed insinuations that the Super Eagles defeat to France was triggered by the bonus row between the players and the Nigeria Football Federation.
“This issue has been in existence for a long time, I presume since the Green Eagles days, and it has rolled on to the Super Eagles,” he continued.
“It is a shame that this happens only with African teams, unlike other teams from Europe and Asia.
“But despite that, I didn’t sense any unprofes­sional attitude by the play­ers in the game (against France). They did well until the last 15 minutes when they gave up,” he concluded.

Eagles gave their best in Brazil -Rabiu Afolabi