Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has commended his players for their performance in Thursday night’s 2-1 win against Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, reports Completesports.com.
The West Africans missed an early chance through Victor Osimhen.
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Peseiro’s charges however went behind in the 11th minute, with Jonathan Morsay nodding home Musa Kamara’s pinpoint cross.
The Super Eagles rallied back with Alex Iwobi equalising five minutes later and Victor Osimhen netting the winning goal four minutes before the break.
“We were better than Sierra Leone in this game, we deserve to win. We changed the setup in the second half, I think it was only the last 10 minutes our opponent had some good moments,” Peseiro told reporters after the game.
Read Also: 2023 AFCONQ: Osimhen Salutes Super Eagles Team Spirit After Win Vs Sierra Leone
“We created a lot of scoring chances, we could have won with a bigger margin, but the team needs more time and we must work.”
The Super Eagles will travel to Agadir, Morocco for their next game in the qualifiers against Sao Tome and Principe next week Monday.
By Adeboye Amosu
11 Comments
Try 5 4 1 if 4. 4 2 is not working for now because u are new to African football….. U wil win by good margin .
He’s not new to African football. He coached Alahyl football club in Egypt.
Again u have started with same mistake rohr makes . Starting attack from defence . Thereby making defenders weak when the opponent comes strong at them …. Reason y they always concede 1st before 10mins. And last 10mins of games.
We should not support any form of insult on this platform, but guy we must also not say stuff that will attract an insult, because some people might be forced to attack you with insults because of what you just said. It sounds ridiculous, the defender got weak because they started attacking from defence?
E shock me oh
You must be reasoning with your ass. How the hell do you think starting attack from defense render such defence indefensible?
The fact that with all the attacking talent available to you, you chose Sadiq to partner Osimhen makes me question your player assessment. Then you left me speechless when you chose Moffi to replace Osimhen.
The only saving grace on the Super Eagles’ performance was the state of the pitch. If Sierra Leone had presented such a pitch for the Super Eagles, a passing side, to play on I would have accused them of dastardliness. That we’re doing it to ourselves, playing on an uneven surface at home that negates our passing style and causes torn ligament injuries to expensive players says everything about the NFF and its administrators.
The Sierra Leonians with just cause must be laughing at us. I know the Ghanaians are still laughing at us.
Players cannot be properly assessed when they are used to smooth surfaces and the ball unpredictably changes direction at the slightest bump. It almost caused center-back Ajayi to dangerously lose the ball early in the game.
I will start my assessment from the right, the Sierra Leoneans like almost everyone Nigeria has played have exploited Nigeria’s weakness on the right. All the Sierria leonean attacks and their goal came from the Nigeria’s right.
Similarly, Ecuador and Mexico their goals against Nigeria came from the right. Chukwueze, Aina and Ajayi man the Super Eagles’ right side. Aina perhaps after watching Bassey finally woke up to his role in supporting the attack by overlapping and crossing. This led to Nigeria’s second goal. However having made his goal contribution that was the last we saw of Aina in a threatening attack.
His substitute Shehu Abdulahi brought some order and sanity to the defence of the right side but appears to have no offensive capabilities.
Chukwueze had the best chance of the match but messed it up, his contribution had flashes of the old Chukwueze in that he actually crossed the ball into the 6 yard box, but again his overall game was below par.
In midfield, Iwobi was busy and actually played a 1-2 while advancing into the penalty box rather than his old habit of passing and standing arms akimbo outside the box.
That initiative led to him scoring the equalizer. Iwobi played creditably well, although still below his potential in my opinion. He needs to improve the accuracy of his passing and play more ball progressing 1-2 combinations with his teammates.
Etebo was to me a revelation his passing was accurate and sweet, and he strove to swing the ball into space from one side. He harried the Sierra Leonean midfield and performed well.
Aribo, I have to confess I have never understood what Aribo’s role is. He wears the No. 10 but doesn’t play like any playmaker I know. He performs well harrying the opposition with tackles in midfield but surely he has more to offer than just being a ball winner?
On the Super Eagles’ left Moses Simon was a joy, he attacked the Sierra Leonean defence head-on while Bassey continued his game of providing sweet crosses for Osimhen. The boys on the left, when Moses Simon turns up, continue to be the Nigeria’s most threatening players.
In attack Osimhen as usual performed well, Sadiq is yet to convince me. As for the defence they scored a pass mark.
And what did they do against Mexico and Ecuador ? Or that also was played on bad pitch? We complain about everything like this the first time they playing on that pitch, we won and I believe they play better, creat chances and they can only improve, let’s give the coach time.
I feel the coach has a plan… He is testing every player and most people will be dropped.. that’s why he paired Victor and Sadiq a combination he didn’t try out at the tour in USA… From his statement “super eagles is not where you come to develop.. It’s where you come to perform, so u must be at your best”
He hasn’t gotten his first 11 yet… But some have sealed their spots
He wants to get the quality from what he has then begin scouting.. IMO
I hope Peseiro has seen Musa in training and realizes that he is surplus to requirements and also blocking emerging talents that can be invited….I don’t see his presence as a motivation as our last 5 games before this has been lackluster and he has played bit roles with no significant input.
Uyo stadium just hosted the CCC final two weeks ago. The pitch provided real football entertainment and was a thing of beauty to see CAF and Akwa Ibom State Government put up such an enviable showpiece. It was a big shame to watch the SE struggle to kick the ball at home, in such a magnificent stadium with the worst playing surface. CAF should overlook the Big Brother syndrome and ban Abuja stadium from hosting any further match until its taken care off.