Former Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, has revealed that the absence of Victor Boniface gave the team limited option to refine Nigeria’s pattern of play at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that the Bayer Leverkusen star, who was expected to lead the Super Eagles attack alongside Victor Osimhen, copped an injury few days to the commencement of the tournament in the team’s training camp in Abu Dhabi and was withdrawn from the competition.
However, in a chat with AfricafootUnited, the Portuguese tactician stated Boniface would have made a big difference if he was available for the tournament.
Read Also: Bayer Leverkusen Boss Provides Positive Injury Update On Boniface
“I will say that Boniface would have made the difference without injury,” he said in an interview in Portugal, according to AfricafootUnited.
“He was very confident and can play comfortably in our two-man attacking style. He can also play on both sides of the strikers and that would have made him our invisible arc in the tournament.
“Our options to refine our style were limited in his absence.”
The Super Eagles narrowly lost the final to host Ivory Coast 2-1.
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18 Comments
This shows that NFF are the problem of Super Eagles. How would a coach say this as an excuse? We had other strikers as good as Boniface. Why did the coach ignore Dessers?
Our midfield was nothing to write home about which we warned the gaffer but he goofed up woefully but still, they still want the gambling coach to continue because he is a foreign coach who has nothing to offer.
If it was a local coach who said this or made mistakes like this man here, he would have gone before the Afcon in Ivory Coast.
My fellow black people, why can’t we change the way we do our things a bit so that we can get a better result.
Can’t we put Amunike there and support him like Ivory Coast and Senegal are doing?
Do we still want a half-baked foreign coach as Super Eagles coach? If so, we should forget the World Cup and Afcon tickets because the foreign coaches are not better than our own.
Paseiro should apply for a job in other countries like Sudan, Ethiopia, to see why he will qualify to any major tournament just like Amunike did with ease.
No wonder Oga Rohr has been struggling to win matches because he has no quality players in his team like Nigeria.
We should stop enslaving ourselves as Africans. We should believe in what we have, period. It is a local coach turn. Let’s welcome Amunike a.k.a the wisdom on board.
Let’s fail with our own because we can not continue with half-baked foreign coaches. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
@Omo9ja Because something works in Ivory Coast and Senegal does not mean it will work in Nigeria. okay look at Cisse after Wining the AFCON did he change as a person did he remain humble or become arrogant like our own who won (God rest his soul). Now did he start selecting weak players and claiming this or that. or did we always see the best players.. and the ones that break out in Europe did we see an organised CHAN team last year in Senegal no debates about where the local Senegal League players should earn thier stripes first things are done by the book. Ivory Coast had no other option they used thier Deputy Coach when they sacked thiers and he happened to be an ex international and guided a team of players selected by thier dismissed European coach who selected his best players we didnt even see WIlfred Zaha in the team becuase he lost form and Other players were in better form including 20 year old Adingra who initiated the equaliser. In Nigeri we saw Musa an out of Form player In the team while 22 year old Tella missed out in Musa case he is even more out of form than Zaha but Musa still made SE on orders from the Hausa Government. So that is to show you the Tribaist nature in Nigerian compared with the free hand given in Ivory COast to select the best players no question it is even more funny because currently Ivory Coast teams do better tan Nigerians in CAF Club Competitions yet still dont get imposed on the National team coach. So @Omo9ja stop using because Ivory Coast did this Nigeria should do it Because Senegal did this Nigeria should. Trying to make your bed without straightening out or cleaning your sheets is not good na. Why not say Nigeria should take a look at how Senegal is running thier Football and imitate that from Grassroot not just at senior level. And again @omo9ja No African team has Won WOrld Cup but how many European teams have? and you think Amuneke will come and win WC? lol we will be even lucky to qualify if AMuneke is coach.
***PASEIRO IS THE CAUSE OF HIS FAILURE IN AFCON .
1. WHY DID HE TAKE UNFUNCTIONAL LEADER, CAPTAIN, BENCH-WARMER, IRRELEVANT PLAYER AHMED MUSA TO AFCON. SINCE WHEN I HAVE BEEN WATCHING FOOTBALL, I HAVE NEVER SEEN WHERE A FULL-TIME CAPTAIN WILL NEVER TASTE A MATCH THROUGHOUT TO THE FINAL. A COACH OF A TEAM PLAY HIS ROLE ON THE BENCH (not on the field) WHILE A PLAYER PERFORM HIS ROLE ON THE FIELD OF PLAY( not on the bench). WHAT ROLE AHMED MUSA PERFORMED IN THIS AFCON: A COACH OR A PLAYER?????
2. WHY A REGULAR STARTER, CONSISTENT GOAL SCORING STRIKER BEFORE THE PERIOD OF AFCON, CYRIEL DESSERS WAS NOT INCLUDED FOR AFCON SQUAD.
3. WHY PASEIRO SELECTED ONLY 26 PLAYERS WHILE OTHERS COUNTRIES SELECTED 27 PLAYERS THAT WERE APPROVED BY FIFA/CAF. HE JUST WASTED THE ONE SLOT THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE IMPACT.
***THANKS GOD THAT HE HAS QUIT. HE WAS JUST FORTUNATE TO REACH FINAL **†*
Concerning your number 1 point, then you didn’t watch Chelsea under Conte. Did Terry play any games? There is nothing special about Dessers. Moffi and Onuachu are much better.
No dey mind all these people. When dessers was in Gent, he couldn’t bench onuachu. He moved to serie A met another Nigeria David okereke, which couldn’t outscore despite David playing as supporting striker.
Na him be there naija Ronaldo
@kola my man the more you the more you give away that you no sabi ball joor!.. So John Terry and Musa are the same level abi??. A whole John Terry no let me Ask you. When Terry was Captain of England was he a bench warmer???. And why are you using Club ball to explain International Matters???. guy Pls Nigerians like you are the ones deceiving the NFF when You clamour for Mumu players and Coaches.. I am not a Dessers fan but he cab X10 give more than Onuachu in SE not Moffi but Onuachu definitely.
And Again Terry Retired from International Ball in 2012 and Played club until 2018 Can Musa Do that???? in TErry Case he was still playing active Club ball and Winning tites for 6 years but left the nationa team to give better players a chance that is what true patriotic leaders do not Selfish people like MUSA!,
When Conte was Coach Terry if you actually follow ball played some games but stayed on as he was learning some managerial pointers from Conte. @Kola Guy you really need to do less commenting and more reading
Lol@Ugo Iwunze. Person wey ‘know ball’. Do you want a national team example? Okay, tell me how many games Stephen Keshi played at the USA 94 World Cup. Everyone knew Uche and Nwanu were ahead of him. Did that stop him from being team captain? Was Musa the only unused player at the last AFCON? Did you see Bruno kick a ball in CIV? Does it mean Bruno shouldn’t have been included in the squad?
@Kola Keshi had injury besides Keshi didn’t carry on with playing for the super eagles like inactive Musa.After 94,Keshi quit the super eagles but in Musa’s own case he refuses to quit,making himself available every tournament
Indeed But you also took poor cover for these players. Instead of taking the likes of Tella and Helping Orban Revive his form by giving him the platform to showcase you took players you feared to call upon. so you are also to be blamed and we could have got better out of the team if you didn’t go to a whole final to defend from 1st whistle
Tella was exceptionally poor against Lesotho. As regards Orban, so the Eagles is now a rehabilitation ground for players?
Did you even watch the game against Lesotho? Did you see Tella play in that game? Your agenda-filled brain can’t even process the fact that people might call you out on your lies.
@Kola and @Sunny so Orban season is in such decline that that he needs rehabilitation yet he moved up in his career and he isonly 20 moved from Belgium to a Big history club in France Lyon some Rehabilitation. I did not know that 35 mins is enough to use as a yard stick to gauge a players international ability at that level needless to say while Nigeria were struggling to bang in goals in AFCON Tella was scoring goals for fun in Bayer LEverkusen at the same time.
So you see you actually say did you watch Nigeria vs LEsotho against Lesotho because Tella did not Play against Lesotho he played Saudi Arabia and was only trying to understand his Team mates in a Friendly and he actually did not play that bad he dd not loose possession easily like we saw in AFCON…. you people want to be sweeping bad calls under the rugg all the time and expect improvement in our football?? LOl. SO While Musa can add nothing to the team why does he still get invited. Tella keeps knocking those goals in for Almost German Champions while Musa is getting dismissed by clubs since 2019 yet he must get calls ahead of Tella and Orban abi and this is the sort of shenanigans going on in a so Called “Giant of Africa” ..
I have come to a realisation that most Nigerians clamouring for Musa every International break and Clamouring for Indigenous Coaches are not even up to date with current footballing matters
@Ugo, let me explain my comment to you slowly. I was talking to Kola who said Tella was awful against Lesotho. I called him out for lying that Tella played against Lesotho when he did not play. I was not talking to you.
How well is your Orban doing now in Lyon? He has been exceptionally poor. All the strikers taken to AFCON are better than Orban.
Tella was very poor in his only cap for Nigeria. When you are new in a team, you have to perform to win a jersey. Super Eagles isn’t Leverkusen.
Tella played 1st half in the match against Zimbabwe and didn’t cover himself in glory, hence was omitted for AFCON. So @Kola and @Ugo Iwunze you can correct yourselves.
To break into a team you will need to perform exceptionally better than those you are coming to replace in the last match before a major tournament
He will now have the chance to convince the handlers in the coming friendlies, so no worries.
Shut up. Tella only played one game for Nigeria, and he was very poor. There was no way an AFCON invite was justified for him.
Oga, he wouldn’t have made any difference with that Mourinho-pattern you played. Boniface plays for Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen team that’s known for beautiful, flair and total-football. He plays for a team that has ball-joggling and highly efficient midfielders with abundant creativity.
It’s possible you would’ve played him as a centerback or leftback with that defensive football.
I say to Peseiro don’t sorrow for poured milk, Peseiro could have gained many chances , if he had deald perfectly with the final match , just he had to put plan b, c , as to enter Ahmed Musa instead of Lookman , he had to change his tactic then Super Eagles formation , that means he had to play with 3-5-2 than to play with 3-4-3 or to chang it to 4-4-2 , he also had to advance Alex Iwobi as a winger than to puthim as a defensive midfielder , cause Iwobi has offensive traits and aspects , look him now at fulham he scored tow goals in tow consecutive matches frist against Manchester United , second against Wolverhampton, so I advice the next coach must put him as playmaker or a winger in order to score goals and pass for the forwards , Peseiro was clueless coach , he hasn’t put an excellent strategy to win this cup especially in the final match versus Cote De Ivore, also he had to summon Cyriel Dessers than to summon sluggish and stagnant player just as Pual Onuachu…