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Peseiro Hails ‘Massive’ Super Eagles’ Win Against Sao Tome

Peseiro Hails ‘Massive’ Super Eagles’ Win Against Sao Tome

Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro praised his players after their remarkable showing in Monday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiying fixture against Sao Tome and Principe, reports Completesports.com.

The three-time African champions were in devastating form at the Adrar Stadium, Agadir Morocco recording their biggest e win in international football.

Napoli forward Victor Osimhen scored four goals, while Terem Moffi bagged a brace.

Moses Simon, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ademola Lookman and Emmanuel Dennis were also on target for the Super Eagles in the game.

Read Also: Osimhen Reacts to Super Eagles’ Win Against Sao Tome

“About the 10-0 win? Yes, it’s good,” Peseiro told reporters after the game.

“It is better for us [to get] three points, which is more important to us. Of course, I want to improve our organization on the field because we didn’t train too much with them.

“We want to introduce our ideas – this match was good because they tried to follow our organisation, our style, our ideas. I am also happy because the guys who entered during the match did as well as those players who started,” Peseiro said.

Peseiro’s side top Group A with six points from two games. Guinea-Bissau are second with four points, while Sierra Leone occupy third position with one point. Sao Tome and Principe are bottom with zero point.

By Adeboye Amosu


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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 15
  • Tristan 2 years ago

    There are two sports whose tactical styles apply to football namely basketball and boxing. Basketball like football is a sport where space is the most valuable commodity involving passing and counterattacking. The basketball passing game includes fastbreak; feints; misdirection; blocking; positional rotation; screening – blocking the path of a defensive player to give an opening into the penalty box; pressing and so on.
    Enlightened coaches can learn a lot from basketball plays, which are all documented.
    Boxing is the next sport that has techniques that can influence football. When applied to football it is perceiving the entire team as a boxer. Movements from the flanks are viewed as left or right crosses while movements from the midfield are viewed as jabs. When a boxer throws a right cross punch, he shifts his position and raises his left guard. How does this apply to football? It means an attack from the right flank should be accompanied by a protective shift of defensive cover from the left to the right to compensate. This applies vice versa.
    When a boxer jabs – the football equivalent of midfield attack, he accompanies it with a weaving motion of his head and shoulder and fast feet movement. Applied to football, a weaving motion is a snakelike movement in which a player advances by fast 1-2 combinations with his teammates, combining this with one-touch passes hypnotizes and misdirects the opposition.
    When faced with a static low-blocking opposition, there is nothing more effective than misdirecting with 1-2 combinations involving one-touch passes.
    Nigeria still has a way to go but we’re back on a positive trajectory, the starting team fielded against Sao Tome has the spine of a competition-winning side with the addition of Iheanacho in place of Moffi and Etebo competing with Ndidi.
    Well done Coach!

  • Abdulrazak 2 years ago

    The key words in the interview are; organisation of the team on and off the pitch, and football philosophy or ideas of how you want the team to play. Not some naive words like “Go out and express yourselves”. Which was what we got from an incompetent and inept Eguavon.

    • Greenturf 2 years ago

      I said it before had this manager gotten the super eagles job instead of the desperate Eguavoen,we would be better off than we are at the moment.
      I’m optimistic Qatar qualification would have been so easy.
      Eguavoen was a punishment we got for the malicious sack of a coach that met all target.

      • @Greenturf Under Rohr and Eguvoen (the former Not always selecting the best legs and the latter easily influenced i.e. criminally leaving an inform Bassey out of AFCON!) SUPER Eagles were not allowed to hit their Full potentials now with this New Coach we just may hit the heights this current class potentials possess. I feel everything played out fine, because if we had Rohr most of these players you see in the team will not have made it. We would still see Ighalo, We will still see Samuel Kalu even though he has lost massive form and is rebuilding now. We would not have see Bassey playing as Rohr preferd Jamilu Collins no matter what, Lookman Switch would not have been finilised as Cerezo pushed for it, Dennis would not have been in SE as he had problems with Rohr and Rohr Oucast him, Awoniyi would not have been introduced fully to SE as Rohr cast him aside after 45 mins in one game, Bassey may not have been tied down to SE as Cerezo made that happen by capping him for Ghana albeit too late as he should have made AFCON and be jelled into the team by Ghana. You see Eguavoen was a blessing in disguise as his job which God Ordained was to come in an tie some important players to our cause and re introduce them smoothly to the SE again. so Eguavoen came in to stabelise an already sinking ship that a out od ideas coach Rohr could not maintain. So you see If Rohr was in charge it may have been even worse for SE. and we certainly would not have played as well as we are now.

        • That’s not fear you sound too bad, Rohr started all those guys you mentioned and was waiting for their switch, Eguavon was a punishment for you guys. Rohr met his assignment done, he was justified for his job for every qualifier he met them, so don’t blame he wanted balance in the team that was why he called on some members to balance up like ighalo. But this might look good now but you guys will kick this coach out soon, you guys always have reason why all game played must be won, if you are winning all game is no longer a competition.

      • Everything happens for a reason bros!

      • KangA 2 years ago

        Say that again. The guys in NFF have selective deafness, which is unfortunate. Dr. Drey almost shouted himself hoarse. In the history of global football, when has an FA sacked a long-term coach just days before a competition and gone on to excel?

        Malheureusement, ils ont refusé d’écouter!

  • *Can Peseiro Succeed With The Same Double Edged Sword That Mortally Harmed Rohr and Eguavoen?*

    In Nigeria’s first 3 games in Afcon 2022, Austin Eguavoen demonstrated that the 4-4-2 constellation can be a ruthless tactical option for Nigeria particularly against low-to-average oppositions. Nigeria scored 6 goals in just 3 group games.

    Little wonder Peseiro praised Nigeria’s application against Tunisia in the doomed slim second round loss to Tunisia.

    “The Super Eagles were better than Tunisia even with ten men they created enough opportunities to score and win the match,” said Peseiro. “Of course you the people, the fans, sometimes you can not see that because of the emotion close your eyes but for me I saw in that moment.” He concluded.

    That was the statement of a coach who shares similar tactical philosophy with Eguavoen as they both deploy the same formation. But the difference is in the interpretation of that philosophy and the discipline instilled in the players to maintain the shape of the formation and fully maximise the possibilities it presents.

    Also, Peseiro appears to have an option B against stubborn oppositions. I said it on several platforms that Eguavoen was on to something fascinating. But he lacked the vision and insight to adapt his methods to changing and challenging circumstances.

    Hopefully Peseiro will improve on areas where Eguavoen faltered using exactly the same formation but tweaking it and adapting it based on opponents.

    Isn’t it interesting that the sort of crosses that Eguavoen espoused and promised led to Nigeria’s first goal yesterday. With Calvin Bassey, we are seeing more and more of those crosses.

    The same sort of precision driven through-ball that led to the chance that Sadiq Umar fumbled against Tunisia at the Afcon is now becoming a staple under Peseiro.

    Peseiro seems to know what Nigeria fans want attacking-wise. Wing play, two strikers up front and a box-to-box midfielder.

    But, frailties remain in this fragile formation, frailties that doomed Eguavoen because he was unable to identify the formation’s shortcomings let alone address these.

    “The game against Sierra Leone for me was not that bad,” said Ex-Super Eagles wingback Ifeanyi Udeze. “Remember that we played without a defensive midfielder and for me that was a problem for the team.” He concluded.

    And for me too, that is one of the achilles heels of this formation. Where will Ndidi fit in Peseiro’s 4-4-2 when the Leicester City man comes back from injury? Eguavoen found out to his detriment against Tunisia that Ndidi does not offer any sort of goals threat.

    That formation allowed Ndidi to get into promising positions against Tunisia at the Afcon(the same sort of position that Partey got into for Ghana’s fatal goal outside Nigeria’s 18 yard box in Abuja). But Ndidi’s shots were embarrassingly awful.

    Goals aside, that formation appears to only accommodate two midfielders: one attacking midfielder and one centre midfielder. The absence of a defensive midfielder in that design can still be ruthlessly exploited by a more technically grounded team. A Covid ravaged Tunisia downed Eguavoen.

    However, my only consolation is that Jose Peseiro appears to have a plan B and C if things aren’t going so well. He did that against Ecuador where he switched from 3-5-2 in the first half to 4-4-2 in the second half to calming effect. And, when his team plays 4-4-2, Peseiro appears to avoid the trappings of the system mutating into 4-2-4 uncontrollably (which collapsed the midfield entirely under Eguavoen and left the wingers isolated and easily curtailed thereby cutting meaningful supplies to the centre forwards).

    It is unfortunate for Eguavoen because, with more technical grounding and sagacity with better imagination, flexibility and creativity, he could have gone farther than he did with this Super Eagles.

    We now have Peseiro who is not a success yet, it is early days. 4-4-2 has trappings and it creates illusions. When Gernot Rohr tried it against Sierra Leone, he raced to a 4:1 lead only to come back crashing to earth. When Eguavoen tried it, he was the best coach in the whole of the Afcon tournament in the group stages only to end up as one of the worst coaches in the history of the Super Eagles.

    Four-Four-Two formation is undoubtedly a double edged sword.

    Will Peseiro be able to avoid and navigate around the trappings and pitfalls of this controversial formation (which most A-listed coaches avoid like a plague)?

    Only time will tell.

    • Mr Hush 2 years ago

      @Deo
      Aptly written.

      Simply put;Eguavoen wasn’t sagacious enough to succeed.

      As you stated, what Peseiro has shown so far is a belief in his system but not so much he isn’t flexible. He makes changes when necessarily and he isn’t afraid to make those bold changes.
      And from all observations, the players are keying into the system. That’s vital. You need the players belief to make system work. They are the ones onthe chess board.

      As you said, ” only time will tell “. We will keep watching keenly and positively as well.

      Congratulations to the team for the massive feat yesterday. Like Oliver Twist, we ask for more.
      More grit, more drive, more work and more passion.it can only get better.

      Ps. NFF. Sports Ministry, get us a good pitch. Let our boys play to their potential.
      They, we deserve that much.

      • Thanks Mr Hush, at least Peseiro delivered a cliffhanger against São Tomé and Príncipe. We now eagerly wait for September assignments. In the interim, there is the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in July to savour after the Super Falcons emerged the best team in West African qualifiers. 🙂

    • Tristan 2 years ago

      Football today is less about static formations and more about fluid changes. A team’s defensive posture or formation differs from its offensive formation. Modern-day teams in advanced leagues have achieved this fluidity through positional rotation. A 4-4-2 formation may actually be the implementation of a 3-5-2 attack using just one flank, as an extra player drops down from the 5 to compensate for the cover required. Similarly, when defending a 3-5-2 overloads the midfield preventing the problems of inadequate manpower.
      So what looks like a 4-4-2 may just be the attacking implementation of a 3-5-2.

      • Mr Hush 2 years ago

        @Tristan

        Totally agree.

        This was seen yesterday; whenever one of the side backs go forward, at the other end, one remains. For example;when Sanusi bombarded forward, Aina mostly stayed put at his end.
        Giving a 3 shaped back line most of the time.

        Fair enough, it has not been perfected yet by the Eagles but that’s allowed since it is just early days working with the system as it relates to the national team.

        It is a system if well fine tuned could be clinical as the Man United team of the late 90s and early 20s.

        Let’s see how it goes.
        It is all down to will and implementation

    • Peseiro is playing 4-2-2-2 and then he switches it to 4-5-1 or a 4-4-1-1 variant..

      For him organization on the pitch , passion is more important than formation 

      • Greenturf 2 years ago

        Rather he plays the Portuguese/Brazilian 4-2-2-2 and switches to 4-4-2 formation.
        This is how this two countries play and he’s changing our system to that as you can see,our players struggled a bit against Sierra Leone but adapted well against Sao Tome & Principe.
        He’s working on our organisation which is getting better,it requires time,surely he will excel because he has quality as well quantity in the team according to the gaffer,the supplies is not lacking we are counting on the new gaffer to give us a super eagles we would be proud of,I must confess it’s looking good so far.

        • You are still not going to the world cup. Why didn’t you beat ghana 10-nil? Bullies!

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