Jose Peseiro has said the Super Eagles deserves to beat the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone on match-day five of the 2023 AFCON qualifier on Sunday.
A brace from Victor Osimhen and a late goal by Kelechi Iheanacho, saw the Eagles beat Sierra Leone 3-2 and qualify for next year’s AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire.
The result means both the Eagles and Guinea-Bissau will be at next year’s AFCON.
Speaking after the hard fought win, Peseiro said:”Very hard match my players never gave up they fought till the final whistle in the first half we created up to eight opportunities but only scored two goals.
“We deserved to win but I think it was difficult and very good match but our team is the best in the group we did a fantastic job against a good team I’m happy with my players, congratulations to them.“
On the changes he made, the Portuguese said: “I tried to improve the team by bringing on some players, Aribo was tired and had to go out and I tried to give others the opportunity to fight till the last minute.”
On whether he will make changes in the final qualifier against São Tomé and Principe:“If I change the team every time it will be difficult to create good organisation. We prepared for this game only five days and I needed to choose the right players. But the door of the Super Eagles is open for every body.“
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Mr. Peseiro, please, you need to start making some changes if you remain the coach. Nigeria is a footballing nation with lots of talented players unlike the previous countries you coached. Not saying you should overhaul the team, but it needs urgent injection of new, younger players. You should have started that process a good while ago. It is getting late.
So far, there is no indication that these same set of players that failed at the last Nations Cup and also failed to qualify for the last World Cup would do any better going forward.
My suggestion is that you use the next qualifier, the few exhibition windows and The Nations Cup tournament to introduce new players and prepare for World Cup qualifiers that would follow, assuming your employers decide to retain you.
I don’t know whether this man saw what we saw or simply towing his employer ‘s script.Both goals by sierra Leone, out defenders were beaten for pace.Omeruo was beaten for pace for the first goal, something that would not happen with a younger Bassey.While Ndidi was out of position, very slow to recover leaving the goal keeper badly exposed for the second Sierra Leone goal.Bulk of this team date back to almost seven years ago.We need a new center back, Omeruo is past it and Ekong too,Playing Basset there for him to continue to grow and also give opportunity to Frederick and Ogwuche in the next dead rubber match.Ndidi is paying the price for staying too long in his comfort zone at Leicester.Daga should have been in this team and given a run in with the next match.What happens if Osinhim get injured? we don’t have a potent replacement yet.
Assuming the NFF are forward thinking and without personal interest, these are things they should be doing and we will be seeing it.Instead they went to the NPFL and invited 4 players as old as the ones that I mentioned above who they want to expose and sell!
I watched a fiesty end to end match this weekend between Belgium and Austria that ended 1-1 in Brussels.From the 60th minutes, the Belgian coach introduced 4 under 21 players into the team.The coach was honest enough to acknowledge that his team is aging.Juxtapose that with what Peserio is saying.
I also watched how Zambia put Ivory coast to the sword 3-0 in Lusaka.Boy that Zambian team was full of youth, pace, running and skills.They outran the hapless aging Ivory coast team inside out.Our aging team cannot match that kind of firepower.Sadly the coach cannot see that
Thank you, Toni. But this isn’t the guy who will ring those changes. I don’t see him doing that. He would rather stick to his own archaic ideas than implement anything new in that team. Your suggestion is brilliant. That’s what Stephen Keshi did in 2013 that spark an unbelievable resurgence in that team. Bringing Omeruo, Oboabona, Victor Moses, Sunday Mbah and even Ogenyi Onazi was key to our breakthrough at that AFCON. We didn’t care if Yobo, or IK Kalu, Yobo, or even Musa were playing or not. He was very open and sincere. Reason he won that AFCON in style. But this one is so timid and weak. He won’t do that.
@Papafem please point of correction Victor Moses is more of a senior player than Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses was Nigeria’s danger man in those days dont let NFF’s false exalting of Musa and Musa’s flash in the pan performances fool you Moses, Emenike and Mikel are the reasons we won the Afcon 2013 is the reason we Afcon 2013 Moses also was instrumental in qualifying us for both WC 2014 and 2018 respectively. Victor Moses deserved more acolades than Musa from NFF i have no doubt in my mind that if NFF exalted Vic Moses the way they did Musa and did things on merit Nigeria would be the Morocco of Today and would have a lot more success than we do now. Vic Moses is more of a legend for SE than Ahmed Musa in SE and football overall.
I will say again Musa should have stopped being capped at 75 – 80 games..
It would be foolhardy not to offer him a new contract after qualifying the team for the Afcon.
At least a short term contract which will keep him in the team until the duration of the Afcon.
His performance at the nations cup should determine if he’s the right manager to thinker the team going forward.I would suggest for continuity he should be rewarded with a short term contract that would elapse after the nations cup but with an option of a renewal
Yes I agree with you @Greenturf on the need for continuity and retention of Paseiro until atleast after the Nations cup in Ivory Coast. Atleast he has qualified the team for AFCON finals, even with a game in hand. He needs to get younger, pacier and fitter midfielders and get rid of misfits like Ndidi and Aribo.
Ndidi and Aribo played very well I don’t really know which game you people were watching. the players that need to be rid off in SE are Ahmed Musa period he sits on the bench doing nothing.. We need to inject at least Gift Orban into this team and tyronne Ebuehi. Ndidi experience is very vital and with age still on his side he will put the last 2 seasons behind him.
Spot on Tony. Your analysis is on point. If we intend to make an improvement from the last few years failures, then we have to inject new energetic hungry Eagles now before it’s too late.If you look at the trends among major footballing nations at the moment, they are all infusing their teams with young players.Spain just won the nations league with a new generation of players. France is doing the same with the Nkukus.England is following up with the Eze’s Germany with Musiala. Our present team have been together for close to seven years. It needs spicing up.
But why are we Nigerians deceiving ourselves. Do you guys honestly believe that pesseiro can take us to the promised land. Trust me, we gonna be completely disgraced next year. Our boys are too old and outdated. A coach who doesn’t have a good tracking record. The last time he coached Venezuela team,he only 1 game and lost 10 games. And you expect the same coach to win nations cup for Nigeria. Guys…l beg of you please save your body and health from blood pressure and heart attack… Nigeria cannot and will not make appreciable impacts at the forthcoming nations cup tournament.
Kudos to you brotherly, I use to wonder the yardstick the immediate past NFF board led by Amaju Pinick used in given this man super eagles coaching job, maybe they feels like let just put somebody there without minding the results he will be bringing to the table. If Nigeria is to make any meaningful impact in next year AFCON NFF will need to look for capable coach that will lead Super eagles to the tournament, because we the Fans can’t afford to witness another embarrassing performance from the team anymore even if the NFF board are comfortable with the poor results.
Something has to done about lapses in concentration. Leading comfortably and then panicking towards the end is poor
Na home based team you suppose tell that one not foreign pros with multiple eagles cap. Them be undroppable mafia