Nigeria national team manager Stephen Keshi has said that there was a lot of pressure on the national team following their failure to qualify for the 2012 African cup of nations. Nigeria will be taking on Namibia in the World Cup qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup that will take place in Brazil.

Despite having one of the most talented squad in all of Africa, Nigeria have been extremely poor on the international tournaments. Stephen Keshi has been handed the task of helping Nigeria qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, to face the likes of Jack Wilshere and Luis Suarez. They will be taking on Namibia in Calabar knowing that they need to win in order to stay in the hunt for qualification.

Following the Namibia match, Nigeria will be taking on Malawi. Rwanda will be their opponents in the qualifiers for the 2013 African nations cup. This match is kind of extremely crucial because Nigeria come into the match after having drawn the first leg 0-0. The national team manager and the former captain Stephen Keshi has already ruled out the participation of a number of high-profile players like John obi Mikel and Peter Odemwingie for the match. This move is likely to get support from the fans.

"The players need to perform. There is always pressure because the fans still feel disappointed with the last Nations Cup. I'm not going to make excuses. They need to play good football and win the fans back. That's what Nigerians want. Nothing comes easy. It's the reason I admit that only the players can take the pressure off by playing very well. I'm happy we've got strong information about them, so we'll put all that's happening behind us on the pitch and not in the media," said Stephen Keshi, who secured the job after Nigeria's failure to qualify for the 2012 African nations cup.