Former Nigerian international, Victor Ikpeba has slammed Nigerians who have been criticizing the performance of former Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that the Portuguese tactician took Nigeria to the final of the tournament, where the team lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast.
Although Peseiro was criticised for his negative football in the final, however, Ikpeba during a Monday Night Football on Super Sports, stated that Peseiro deserves so much respect and not criticisms.
Read Also: Troost-Ekong Reveals Row With Peseiro That Nearly Derailed AFCON 2023 Dreams
“What he did in AFCON, credit to him. It took us 19 years to win our first AFCON. It’s difficult to win the AFCON.
“Those who said Peseiro was defensive in his approach in the final should be ashamed of themselves. Don’t forget that was this same approach he used to defeat Cameroon, Angola and South Africa and he was not criticised.
“During my years when we had the best players, we never won the tournament. The foreign managers have done more for Nigeria.
“Accolades should be given to him because he has done well.”
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33 Comments
Ikpeba you are a stupid man it’s like you are among those getting cut from his salary may corruption kill all of una there what did the man do abi you people think Nigerians are not wise
Salary, salary! Those countries offering coaches $90,000/month, are they richer than Nigeria??????
Good soup, na money make am.
As long as poor people like you can’t drop your poverty mentality, Nigeria will never make it in soccer or other sectors.
Can you call him stupid to his face? Keypad warrior gang, disrespecting people for voicing out there opinion bcos you able to sub.
No mind am
I’m sorry if you take that as an insult. We just have to reorientate our thinking to move forward. This idea of comparing mangoes with oranges has to stop. One chief, an ex-soccer icon keeps misinforming Nigerians: The SE coach’s salary is too much! Sack the foreign coaches and employ locals at one-tenth the cost! What do we get? One-tenth of improvement with the SE play and progress.
We forget that players/coaches work in the entertainment industry where sheer emotions control the deployment of resources. What a player like Osimhen earns in a year may pay the salary of a high-class hospital (including a heart transplant surgeon, neurosurgeon, endocrinologist, perfusion therapuist, chief enginee, matron, staff specialists, dietiians, etc). Why is it so? EMOTIONS; not intrinsic value. The chief doesn’t tell Nigerians that. Musicians earn such pay, dead or alive. Fela still earns and pays tax while already in heaven.
So why get so hung up on the “humongous” salary of coaches? Poverty mentality. That’s what I detest, not the man.
With all our wealth we can’t afford to pay a world class coach $100,000 a month to handle the SE? The money still finds its way to the accounts of politicians. And we rank 70 in the world.
I say sorry to @Obaiy.
Ikpeba well done for saying the Truth, it shall be well with you. If they want Local coach, let them say so. But let us not lie about the foreign coaches that we have. Anyone that does well should be praised and any one that does bad should be cririticised.
Rohr came third we said he did bad.
Eguavon took us out in round of 16 they said he did well.
Peisero came second we said he did bad.
So why are we like this. Let us lean to speak the truth it will help us as a Nation. No wonder we have the kind of leaders we have because we always lie to ourselves.
The same Pisero they say cannot defeat the host, he defeated the host, they say he cannot win Cameroon, he did, they say he cannot w Angola, he did, they say he cannot win South Africa he did. Finally he lost narrowly to the host again in the final and we say he played negative football.
So where is Egypt, Senegal, Morocco or Ghana or Cameroon that played positive football. Why did they not get to the final. Or do we like our Afcon 2021 record of best team in the group stage but knocked out in the second round.
It is so sad we never learn as a country, with so much arrogance yet we are so far from reality.
Let us call a spade a spade. Say the truth always regardless or who we support and deliver our Sports and our country as a whole.
Ikeben. I support you. You know that the situation in this country has made some people to be bitter and the reasons they will do nothing but to just criticize everything and even abuse and curse everything.
It’s the country situation. People will not always be patient to look at some issues with the third eye. Have you not observed how people just react to something on social media with an abuse and a curse.
One day on Facebook I wrote a comment and a man with Prophet among his name just responded by cursing me. I said aaah sir have you forgotten that you are a Prophet. You can explain without abusing me. I don’t have to see things the same you see it. The man was ashamed and he wrote a direct message to me to apologize.
The bad situation in this country will cause mental issues and each individual must be cautious and watchful.
There are some guys on this forum who have never caused or abuse in this forum even when they are abused. @omo9ja @deo @glory etc. Even @ Monkey post hardly abuse and curse. Thumbs up. You are the real guys.
Pesero did his best. What was his best? He reacted well to prevent us being disgraced at afcon. We got to the final. Our rankings went up. I thank him for that.
He came in an kept up talking about winning afcon. We were all laughing at him. Some don’t know the power of words. It was in display at afcon. Some boys who don’t give their best in Nigerian color played like beast.
As much as rohr tried his best too but he lacked that confidence speech and charisma. He kept in talking about semi final and he never went beyond seminar final.
But all the same he tried his best too. We moved on.
To start castigating pesero is completely unfair. If we had won this tournament we won’t be here abusing him.
Some people said we should go for world class coach it because they don’t know our records in Nigeria. World class coaches will not come here because we operate a bizarre system. They can’t stand it.
Which world class coach will stand what westerhof and Rohr and pesero faced?
Our best bet would have been to allow him continue so that he would learn his lessons and get better despite the harsh condition. Westerhof did exactly the same with his first afcon. He learned his lesson and he is our best coach so far.
God will help us in this country
South Africa team finishing third have since been called heroes, heroics by their media. We suddenly climbed up to 28 in world rankings and agents of doom in the voice of Professor Hardlife are saying the coach was inefficient because they have candidates who have been jobless and need urgent rehabilitation. I heard the Sports Minister want Peserio to continue so that their darling coaches can continue to be in limbo. Things can change though.
After only 11 African coaches have won AFCON in 34 editions, it seems only foreigners have the magic wand
@Sly Nigeria is better without Peseiro if our NFF make the right call we have had make shift coaches who are not special and who do not know how to win tournaments i.e. Peseiro and Rohr both riding on Individual brilliance of the team Rohr finished 3rd in AFCON because, he even had faith in his team and showed his DNA in the teams style albeit boring at least he didn’t play scared football and defend. thats why he finished 3rd he could also have did a Pesiero in the Semi’s against Algeria and defend and attack but he played so Rohr is even better than Peseiro
If NFF use this opportunity to get another average coach well thats on them but, I would rather wait and hope we get a better coach than Peseiro than Know that we are stuck with him for another 3 years.
@Sly South African Team and Coach are happy with thier Team and celebrating them as hero’s because of the type of football they played in AFCON they played like Champions infact looking back Nigeria just defended againts SA and Prayed for the best and were lucky because, if SA had beating Nigeria in that Semi’s I have no doubt they would have emerged as Champions of AFRICA
@Sly did you actually watch AFCON?
Ugo I disagree with you. How can you say bronze finish is better than silver finish. I am hearing that for the first time.
You forgot that we got a second goal that was ruled out and a penalty awarded to south Africa instead. How would south Africa win in the final when they can’t even score against Nigeria in the semi final.
Agreed we are not saying pesero is the best coach in the world but he got silver and it’s wrong to say rohr third place is better than a second place finish. What type of analysis is that. Have you tried to analyse how Italy and Germany have won most of their work cups.
Usually Germany always have a bad group stages. Italy have always relied on their defensive pattern to win tournaments.
Nigerians are funny people. We were always praising this guy when this approach defeated teams but when we lost we forget all the praises.
A wise coach. I use wise for emphasis. S good coach can be foolish. Eguavon is not bad . We saw what his team did in the group stages in Afcon 2021 but he was not wise. Correct teams and coaches usually adjust based on needs.
I hate a rigid coach. Pesero adjusted. That shows he is wise.
With the situation of our team before afcon, we will need an ndidi in the middle. But he got injured. So bad. We have not prepared to play without him in the middle. This is not the fault of pesero alone.
In first match at Afcon, he used an approach but had to readjust for the second which worked.
If we are sacking him it’s not bad but to nail him is not the best. Coaches come and go.
He is gone fine. But Ugo to say third place finish is better than second place finish – that’s totally not right.
So Cote D’Ivoire was the best at afcon?
Since they are not the best so we can equiorial guinea that defeated them soundly had a better afcon?
Common Ugo!!!!!!!? You’re better than that.
U should be given a trophy on saying absolute bullshit with zero common sense. A coach adjusted to a pattern that would win him games, and almost won the afcon, and you are here nailing him front and back. Success in life is not about the dexterities, it’s about having the wisdom to know what you need, and getting it with the least damage. For me, Peseiro was the best coach at that Afcon. There was no way that super eagles would play fluidly and win games…we all saw that prior to Afcon, its nobody’s fault.
Why didnt Eguavoen ride on players individual brilliance?
Sorry only Omo9ja on that list,the others won’t hesitate to pounce
Ah swr glory especially go kill pesin, monkey own dey come with style
@Christian Ministries, leave Ugo alone. I wonder how you say someone that came 3rd is better than the person that came 2nd. There is a gap difference between 2nd and 3rd positions. Is like you saying a brilliant student in the class has a CGPA of 4.45 and another student has a CGPA of 4.50. They are not the same, people celebrate success and results without knowing how they got there.
Equavon played a nice game in the group stage and got knocked out in the second round by low-rated Tunisia.
You can criticize Pessiro but stop saying 3rd position is better than the second position. Note, the young man got to the target given to him. He achieves more than the stipulated target.
We virtually complained about everything in this country. Egypt,Senegal, Algeria and the rest power house all didn’t achieve anything
@Christian Ministries and @Marvins do you guys know why 3rd place finish is better than 2nd in AFCON, because in AFCON the 3rd place have to win the game to recieve the 3rd place medal with 2nd place finish you have to lose to recieve that medal so 3rd place finishers in tournaments leave the tournament on a high. more than 2nd place they leave deflated and more heart broken. that is why?
Also in Rohr case and Peseiro Rohr played better footaball in 2019 AFCON than Peseiro did in 2023 AFCON if you are honest with yourselves tell the truth and shame the devil, Who played better I am asking both of you?
@Christian Ministries and @Marvins did you guys know on paper SA took a stronger squad in 2019 than in 2024 to AFCON?. Both Rohr and Peseiro played SA in Knockouts who played a better game against SA between Rohr and Peseiro? in these AFCONS in Question Oya over to you two
Ugo, you are funny oh I swear. So because you have to win now makes 3rd place better than 2nd place. Have you forgotten that the second position is more like the first except for the result?
This South African team this year was more organized than the 2019 ones. The one Rohr defeated was making so many errors go and watch the match we played against them. The goals we score were errors from goal keeper or defenders
@Marvin that goal Angola nearly scored against Nigeria in Quarters that crashed the upright post from Iwobi’s Error was that not an Error and if that goal went in can you honestly say that we would have emerged victorious? what about the error from the defence in the first 3 mins of the same game? that Nwabali saved?… you see the point I am making is Peseiro Campaign had more luck that managerial prowess take it or leave it.
Ug0, you have a weird way of reasoning and I honestly believe that you don’t worth replying. You are twisted and need urgent help so as not to go berserk.
Aahh. Ugo is just being funny. And he is better than this because I read his comment on this forum. He just want to condemn the team and condemn pesero so he is ready to say anything. To me that’s not a decent way to analyse things.
Ugo is talking about missed chances of Angola nut not talking missed chances of Nigeria especially that of Oshimen.
Ugo. I am still surprised this is coming from you. Some players don’t play third place matches. Have you forgotten? Some players can boast of playing in the final of Afcon even if they don’t win. Can you compare playing in a world cup final and playing third place.
Morroco would have been in high heavens if they had played the final of a world cup.
Ugo I am still surprised this is coming from you o.
You just bursted people’s brain again by saying playing third place is better than playing final. Haba my friend. I am sorry to say – you are wrong!!!!
@Christian Ministries we cannot be happy with Silver we were suppose to win that Cup is the coach did not come to Final to Fold and Conceive defeat. On the basis of how He Peseiro approached that final match against Ivory Coast it is clear that coach came into the finals on basis that he have achieve his target and has nothing left to prove. Period.
Nigeria allowed Ivory Coast to draw level on cups with us and at the same time Keeping Ghana on Four Trophies while we remained on 3 level with Ivory Coast. Nigeria failed in my books in AFCON i am sorry to say I have lived through many Losing finalist performances from Super Eagles I DO NOT SEE 2nd place as an achievement from My Country Nigeria, especially as our people always embarrassingly open mouth wide WAAAAAAAA!! to be claiming Giant of Africa at every opportunity. Oya Higher a worth while coach and pay him like European teams do or some other African teams do, they will not they will make excuses no money bla bla bla, then tomorrow be claiming Giant of Africa.. My people let us start calling a spade a spade.
@Christian Ministries we cannot be happy with Silver we were suppose to win that Cup if the coach did not come to Final to Fold and Conceive defeat. On the basis of how He Peseiro approached that final match against Ivory Coast it is clear that coach came into the finals on basis that he have achieve his target and has nothing left to prove. Period. yes you will say no one gave us a chance granted but when we made final why go there to defend and nt fight with the Nigerian Spirit? that is enough to sack him in my books because we lost if we had won then okay but because his tactics were flawed in Semi’s and he used the same tactics in Finals also shows he has not enough up his sleeve another reason he should be sacked. let us be straight forward here. He reached his limit with the team and Rightly vacated because he know he has no more to offer
Nigeria allowed Ivory Coast to draw level on cups with us and at the same time Keeping Ghana on Four Trophies while we remained on 3 level with Ivory Coast. Nigeria failed in my books in AFCON i am sorry to say I have lived through many Losing finalist performances from Super Eagles I DO NOT SEE 2nd place as an achievement from My Country Nigeria, especially as our people always embarrassingly open mouth wide WAAAAAAAA!! to be claiming Giant of Africa at every opportunity. Oya Higher a worth while coach and pay him like European teams do or some other African teams do, they will not they will make excuses no money bla bla bla, then tomorrow be claiming Giant of Africa.. My people let us start calling a spade a spade.
@Ugo, nearly cannot kill a bird. Pessiro arranged his defense very well, and despite the pack-the-bus pattern, we still created a lot of chances, especially against Cameroon and South Africa. We could have buried the game before extra time.
Iwobi did his best, don’t blame him for that Angola ball that hit the pole. Forget about playing boring football as far is getting results. Third place match is played by team B.
Let see the new coach that would take over. Amuneke or Equavon abi
I think Peseiro is better now for Super Eagles, why? cause he has strong relationship with the players , with excellent minister Enoh , with NFF members, with SE technical crew, the other cause he changed SE to strong defensive style, he made SE to play orgnized football, this style which SE have been lacking for many years, also he lifeted SE to 14 digrees in Fifa Ranking, then SE was 28 instead of 42 in Fifa-coco coala Ranking february 2024; so I think this a stuitable coach for the next tow years to contract with him, he will summon new players for SE in order to solidify the team, he would liketo summon Anglo- Nigerian goalkeeper Okonkwo ex player of Arsenal, now he is playing at Wrexham FC on loan, also he would like to summon Ifeanyi Matthew player of FC Zurich, he would like to summon many strong players for the next World Cup qualifier which will begin in the next june 2024, SE will encounter South Africa in Uyo, Benin in Benin city.
Some people complaining on this forum don’t know our football history that’s why they are calculating it like is mathematics as if 1+1=2.According to ikpeba an ex international who have the experience said winning afcon is not easy even our legends knows how difficult it is to win the competition.with that being said westerhof before coaching Nigeria had not won any trophy in career before coaching Nigeria and it took him his third afcon to win, herve renard has not won any trophy before coaching Zambia and ivory (till date) coast although he has coached in other African countries before that, aliou cisse it took him 8 years to win afcon , etc .we have peseiro who from day one wants to win afcon already have 3 trophies as manager in Portugal league,got to the final in the first afcon and got a silver and we want him out?? But we sticked to rohr for 5 years finishing in 3rd or 4th places ,like why do we like backwardness so much
It’s either Peseiro or another foreign coach….I am not in support of any indigenous coach. They don’t have the pedigree and sophistication to manage the super eagles.
See what happened to the Cameronian team for example…dem take am do yeye! Cissé of Senegal has only been lucky because he has the opportunity of raising his team over a long period and was able to establish his football philosophy without any bias or favorism…he had an open hand and support of the football authority of Senegal to allow him operate free hand.
I will suggest strongly, we stick with Peseiro for now or go for another foreign coach with good tactical discipline and players management…a very sound coach but not too expensive.
@Sugar Daddy, I am with you on this.I live in Senegal and Cisse main back room staff are all foreign France expatriate and even white.It is not about tactics alone, managing the players in terms of discipline, and much more is an issue and none of our local coach has that ability.Local coaches should better stay off that job, its too big for them to step in
Well, if Ikpeba did not see anything wrong between Eagles and Elephants at the final, I am deeply sorry for the kind of Monaco.
Paseiro just used our players to improve his resume period.
If NFF could hire someone like Oga Paseiro, then NFF should not hesitate to hire our ex players such as Amunike, Egbo, and some of our local coaches. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
“… AT THE FINAL” in your words. Did you ask yourself how we got to actually play in the final? So, on our way to the final there were no issues, but bcos we lost the final Peseiro must go?
Mr you are getting it wrong, nobody is crucifying him. But as the saying goes “you can’t give what you don’t have” the final sums up peseiro, how can you play a final like that. You play a final to win. It shows peseiro is bereft of ideas. It was later that we got to know that he lost all the finals he ever played. Think about that.