A member of the senior national team of Nigeria to the last AFCON where the team went all the way to the final says head coach of the team Jose Peseiro should be blamed for the 1-2 defeat in the final to the host Cote d’Ivoire, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria scored first but were beaten when the host scored two second half goals to emerge as champions in a campaign where they were almost eliminated from the group stage, unlike Nigeria who had a smooth run to the final.
Speaking on the defeat a member of the team who didn’t get to play in the final game said the head coach Peseiro wasn’t bold enough to make some calls that would probably have swung the game in favour of the Super Eagles.
” I think the coach wasn’t brave enough. Most of us thought Victor Osimhen won’t play in the final because he was sick and didn’t train for some days. During the tournament he suffered from food poisoning so he wasn’t at his physical best”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
” Terem Moffi was fit and eager to go. Somehow the coach wasn’t bold enough to bench an unfit Osimhen which is understandable because he is the star of the team, but sometimes you just have to take risks for the overall good of the team”.