Super Eagle Coach Reveals How Nigeria Can Become The Next AFCON Winners

Jose Peseiro, the head coach of the Super Eagles, has outlined what his team needs to achieve to win the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) once again.

In an interview with Super Eagles media officer Babafemi Raji, which was posted on NFF TV, Peseiro said that he and his coaching staff had seen their players in the friendly games against Algeria, Portugal, Ecuador, and Mexico.

He highlighted the team’s 4-0 loss to Portugal in particular, saying it provided a blueprint for improvement.

“The objective is to win the next AFCON and to reach the objective we have objectives. We have been working on observation, player evaluation and team organisation. We had two qualifiers which ended 2-1 and 10-0. But in the friendly games against Mexico, Ecuador, Algeria and Portugal we tried to check our players, we tried to check our ideas, our model to see if we can play this way or not. he said

“Against Portugal, we tried to face them, though we lost 4-0 but we tried to face them and in the first half I didn’t like what I saw because we didn’t control the game as we want. But in the second half, we had more possession than Portugal and almost scored from the penalty and also through Samuel (Chukwueze).

“I liked the second half except for the last 20 minutes because after losing the penalty we then lost our balance and you cannot lose your balance against a team like Portugal. If we had managed to score at 2-1 it’s possible to draw the match.

“We can learn from these games and when I arrived I told my players that if they want to win the AFCON and be among the best teams in Africa you need to play like a big team. Morocco is a big team but playing defensively in the World Cup, this is different. I have quality players but need to evaluate them and I believe in them.“

Peseiro, who is in the World Cup in Qatar right now, added:

“I have been to the last five World Cups and watched the games live and I’m in Qatar for the World Cup thanks to the support of the NFF. I think it’s important to evaluate the evolution of teams in this World Cup because it is the biggest competition for national teams. As you know I’m the coach of the Super Eagles and I arrive in Qatar 2nd of December and watch Portugal and South Korea and Cameroon and Brazil.

“It was possible to watch these games because the stadiums are not far from each other and I will watch the semi-finals, third place and the final.

“I think Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia lacked the consistency to advance into the round of 16. For Senegal, they had a good performance in the group, Aliou Cisse did a good job and the big surprise is Morocco who are good in offence but are well organised. They defended very well, and close down spaces and their coach is doing a fantastic job.

“After the World Cup, we will make a technical report on a technical and tactical level. I like to watch the game live because you can see all the pitch, the organisation, and the space and later I watch the games on video. I can speak about Portugal, Brazil, France and England because they approach the game with the offence process. They try to beat their opponent with offensive play. Brazil and France play with four players in front, for France Antoine Griezman he plays like the second striker and in midfield.”