Super head coach, Jose Peseiro has revealed how he masterminded the side’s victory against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.
Peseiro’s men claimed an impressive 1-0 win against the hosts at the Alassanne Quattara Stadium on Thursday night.
The Super Eagles put up a solid display against Jean -Louis Gasset’s men, who were restricted to few chances in the game.
The Portuguese explained that he mapped out the strategy for the game during his team’s training tour in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“I started thinking about how to approach this game when we were in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“Cote d’Ivoire is a strong team with good players, so we need to close down the space and defend very well.
“We know we have to work hard and not allow them play their football. The players did well to stick to our plan in the game.”
The Super Eagles will take on the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau in their final group game at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan next week Monday.
By Adeboye Amosu in Abidjan
Photo by Ganiyu Yusuf in Abidjan
16 Comments
Nice one coachie, now less talk and more concentration, let the AFCON start now, I love the fact ekong took the penalty, it shows you are up to date with details to already assign penalty responsibilities to him considering he’s been off from the team for a while and yet VO willingly allow him to take the penalty.
Kudos to VO bcos other players would wanna take it considering he initiated the penalty and been the team star boy, that shows unity and comrado exist among your players and that’s one important factors that win you matches and tournament.
I would like to see musa partake in the last match, and pls give Bruno a chance, I believe in that boy than zaidu.
The cup is coming home and you are here to continue your tenure with the best team in Africa, Morocco and Senegal that we all kinda praising are good and merit that fear factor, but we should realize they won there matches with short 1 to there both opponent, well bring them on anytime. Up Nigeria, Up My Dear SE.
@Femi Coach Peserio Does not trust Musa do you NOT get That?. We still have Players like Iheanacho and Moffi to be blended in. Onyedika in Midfield we are trying to build a winning Formula not sentiment petting.
SOmetimes i wonder why Nigeria’s can sacrifice Success for Sentiment it is not normal.
Musa should just keep to his appointed role as cheerleader!
@Ugo if my memory serve me right, same you accuse the coach of not playing his captain, now I see nothing wrong if he give his captain the last half hr. hopefully by then we are comfortable with the game, musa pace can’t be undervalue like that, you make it seems like he kill somebody, give him some slack pls.
@Femi are you really oblivious to the fact that Ahmed Musa makes this team on orders from Abuja State house?… The coach hands are tied on this one. that is why he did not select Musa for the last 5 games or so before AFCON..
Please you people should stop this Musa Shit it is counter Productive to what Nigeria is trying to build. Nigeria has to I repeat Has to stop this thing of petting Musa. He needs to realise he needs to make room now. With the likes of Boniface, Orban, Awoniyi, Adams Akor and Umar Sadiq still to come back in the team I really do not see the need for Musa again after this tournament.
Instead of this Musa Musa Musa up and down if Nigeria is serious use that resources and go and chase a player that can help take us to an even higher dimension like Michael Olise perhaps?.. Is that not better than you people deluding yourself with Musa because of the soft spot you have for him for 4 goals 10 years ago at Word Cup 2014 and 2018?.. It is becoming a joke now that you people cannot let go of this nonsense
On a norm I won’t take him to the AFCON,but now that he is hear let’s see what he still gat to offer, accord him some respect as nobody is asking him to start the match but coming to help from the bench in a comfortable match won’t hurt, aurier have been battling injury prior to AFCON and yet the coach select him, they are soccer coach for a reason and know what they want from there player.
I remember when Nigeria won its second Afcon in Tunisia, the captain Stephen Keshi was on the team roster, although he didn’t play cos he was injured weeks before the tournament. But coach Westerhof chose to pick him cos he was an inspirational figure in camp (some would say “cheerleader”. But same, same).
Nigeria won the tournament and guess who came to lift the cup, the non-playing captain, Stephen Keshi. He even went with Nigeria USA 94 with just bit-part roles., I think Musa is trying to replicate that as a captain who will lift the trophy and then go to the World Cup in 2026 before retiring.
Even Paseiro is trying to be a clone of Westerhof, who also struggled with English but was very expressive and stubborn with his tactics and beliefs. I’m rooting for Musa to play some roles in the last group game. He still got some tricks in his bag on how to beat a defender on speed.
Nigeria 2 vs GB 0. Nigeria 7 points.
CIV 2 vs EG 1. CIV 6 points.
EG 4 points (one of the best loser places)
Musa is SELFISH!
No matter the pressure from NFF or fans, I would have given my spot to a younger player if I were in his position. He’s taking the spot of an extra player that could have bolster the strength of the bench.
Well I’m eating humble pie, I had it for the coach and he proved me wrong.
Fair play to the coach and think the officials that run the NFF are wankers
This is how to approach games not just CIV. Every team knows how to exploit. Put your players on heat always even against small teams because that is where you failed before CIV match.
The fear of Guinea Bissau is a clear chance to advance to the knockout stage. “BE WARNED”
I started going against this coach after the Portugal match. I reasoned that if he could naively play 4-4-2 against a midfield-strong Portugal, his home country whose tactics he should know, then he was tactically incompetent.
This game came after the 10-0 drubbing of Sao Tome, where he also played 4-4-2.
I have nothing against 4-4-2 but it is an offensive tactic best suited against weak teams or for introduction later in the game. To challenge a football giant like Portugal with 4-4-2 was to me the height of incompetence.
From then on like he was an Eguavoen incarnate the coach kept playing 4-4-2 even when every country in Africa was now familiar with Nigeria’s tactics, and knew what steps to stifle and defeat it.
I did not have much hope for Nigeria’s AFCON chances, in fact, I felt that Nigeria may not advance from the group stage for the first time in its football history.
In the first match, I thought the coach was lucky because injuries had forced 4-3-3 on him, and it worked out. Nigeria had plenty of chances but could not convert. His response of “God gives God takes away”, just made me laugh. Has NFF had appointed a priest instead of a coach?
For the second match, I thought, “This fool is going to play 4-4-2 again”, and his lightweight midfielders would be overpowered by the heavy-weight Ivorian midfield. Let’s just say I had already pre-emptively brought out my calculator to see if Nigeria could qualify with a draw or defeat.
When he changed to 3-4-3, my thoughts were, “So all this time you knew 3-4-3 and you didn’t deploy it against Portugal?”
This coach has changed, and I’m scratching my head to find excuses as to why he has changed. Is it because NFF finally paid your salary? Or are you getting tactical advice from the now-unemployed fellow Portuguese and job referee Jose Mourinho on how to ‘park the bus’?
Anyway, thus far he can be praised for tactical acumen. On players, Why is he keeping Onyedika on the bench? Chukwueze continues to be Chukwueze, those who like him have the patience of Job. The team played well, and Onyeka finally turned up.
As to finishing, the one thing that I liked about the Okocha-Nwankwo Kanu generation was they didn’t panic in front of goal. Their goal-bound shots were placed rather than blasted. Only Iheneacho has this quality today, everyone else Osimhen, Lookman, Chukwueze, Iwobi just seem to blast the ball when they get half a chance. For Osimhen, with a global audience watching, it makes him appear wasteful.
What happened to curled shots, toe pokes, and side-foot placements? Blasting the ball at half-chances and missing the goal does not make a striker look good.
Well said mr pesero, you have done well.
So Paseiro is not a bad coach afterall.
Please tell Bright Osayi not to be selfish with the ball, it doesn’t matter who scores as long as there is a win.
He could have passed the ball to a better positioned player but his selfishness cost him.
DEFENSE WINS TOURNAMENTS.
This 3-man center back system makes us more solid defensively, right from Rohr days.
Peseiro had the team’s defense superbly organized. Kudos to him.
A key point he made is his effort to close down space and stop CIV from playing.
Going forward, whatever formation he chooses to use, our defense needs to remain on point. If our opponents find it difficult to score against us, we’re already on our way to success.
If we can just get it right upfront. And goal scoring is not a responsibility for the strikers only. Every player should be able to find the net if the opportunity comes.
Nice one peseiro. U have made a good team. Salute. I don’t want us to only qualify from the group stages let’s get to the final. Nigeria can do it. Be bold to include iheanacho a 442 with osimhen and iheanacho from the wing can work. I would prefer 433 or 442 having iheanacho and osimhen together. I believe osimhen is used to 433 so hasn’t balance with 541 and 343.anyway success to Nigeria. I give pesioro 8/10. I hope Calvin bassey got our motm