The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has provided an explanation on why the team didn’t play up to expectations in the back to back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers games against Guinea Bissau.
Nigeria were beaten 0-1 at home by Guinea Bissau but avenged the defeat with the same scoreline away in Bissau yesterday to move back to top of the group and within three points of sealing a spot at next year AFCON.
Super Eagles will be up against Sierra Leone next before rounding up their campaign in the qualifiers at home against Sao Tome and Principe. Peseiro’s job as coach is hanging by the thread with his contract set to expire in June.
With no talks of an extension, the coach seems to be less bothered and he is already looking forward to the next round of games saying the team will play better if they play on a better pitch. He reckoned that the kind of football his team wants to play can only be achieved on a good playing surface, he cited the game against Guinea Bissau in Abuja as case study.
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In a video clip posted on a news platform of the Super Eagles, the coach spoke on the turn around result that the Super Eagles obtained in Guinea Bissau on Monday after their dramatic home loss last Friday in Abuja.
The coach remarked that “on Friday, our team was much better than Guinea (Bissau). Today, (Monday) we created many scoring opportunities. Today, the pitch is much better than that of Abuja. Our team played offensive game and created many opportunities. We should have beaten them 5-1 in the first match (if the pitch were good) and in the second one, 5-0 or even 6-0. Guinea didn’t create much opportunities.
“Our mistake today (Monday) was finishing.. But that does happen in football. I am happy, not because of the result, but for the model we are showing everybody… good passes, good ball possession’, he said.
He rounded up his statement with a dig on erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr saying he was sacked for playing a boring brand of football, something he is keen on changing ahead of the start of the Africa Cup of Nations next year.
“We want to be attack oriented and give qualifty football to the fans. The last coach left because he could not do that.
“We want to play beautiful football. We were good in both matches, but not fantastic finishing
“We will improve. We had just five training sessions Our philosophy is to attack and attack”, he rounded up saying.
