Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has started the preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations by focusing on the defence of the team, which is one of their weak points going into the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.
The team are already in Abu Dhabi training for the tournament with 23 out of the 25 players called up to the team already at their camp under the watchful eyes of Peseiro and his assistants.
A test game against Guinea on the 8th of January has been agreed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to help shape the team up for the challenge of doing well at the tournament, the team will leave the camp after the game.
Peseiro will use the game to try out a new partnership in defence with Semi Ajayi of West Brom who has paired Calvin Bassey in the last six game of the team getting the axe in favor of Kenneth Omeruo.
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Omeruo will get the nod to stake a claim for a spot in the team in the game against Guinea with Peseiro finally admitting that pairing Semi with Bassey hasn’t worked bar the game against Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo.
In the two training sessions of the team, the coach has focused on the duo as he bid to build some synergy between them ahead of the game against Guinea and probably the AFCON, which begins on the 13th with Nigeria playing their first game of the tournament on the 14th of January.
Ade Emmanuel
