After a shaky start in their group opener when they forced Equatorial Guinea to a 1-1 draw, the Super Eagles were in full flight against hosts Cote d’Ivoire in their second game.
With the right tactics and determination by the players, the Eagles secured a crucial lone-goal victory that has all but confirmed their place in the knockout phase of the AFCON 2023.
Still left with one more group game to play against bottom-placed Guinea Bissau, coach Peseiro in this interview in Abidjan with PREMIUM TIMES and other journalists speaks on his planned approach for Monday’s game and why the Super Eagles must win.
Excerpts…
Question: You played a very defensive game against Cote d’Ivoire, parking the bus as we call it here. Did you get a call from Jose Mourinho on your tactics against the Elephants?
Peseiro: I am a friend of Mourinho, even when the NFF was trying to hire me, someone from the board spoke with Mourinho. Of course, he is my friend but in this kind of situation I can’t send a message to Mourinho but he is my good friend and a good coach too.
Question: How did you feel after the win over Cote d’Ivoire, did you feel a big relief because you silenced a whole nation?
Peseiro: I don’t like dwelling too much on a win in an ongoing tournament. If it is the final match then fine but of course I like to win. I like my players to feel that happiness because a win comes with more confidence and belief in the process and the players also believe more in themselves… But at the same time, when you win. some points are dodged when you relax and feel you can play the same way in the next game. Sometimes you can lose the focus and spirit, (and) can lose the demanded commitment. The players know in football, everything can change fast. For that, I spoke with my players, if we have the best of tactics and we don’t put our minds and play with solidarity, it can’t be easy. Yes, the confidence has increased but we need to keep the focus.
Question: With Nigeria no longer desperate to win as even a draw will see us through, how would you approach our last game against Guinea-Bissau?
Peseiro: We are going to play with our best team for the match, of course, I can change some players because I feel some players are still tired so we check if they can recover or not. The first team (starting XI) that would be playing against Guniea-Bissau I believe will be the best team for that match. Right now, we have to manage, we have like two days to make final checks if the players have recovered well enough because we have less time between our second and third games compared to the time between the first and second games. We want to win this match, we want to fight for the first position in this group, we have Equatorial Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire also fighting for this same position, and we are going to do our maximum to get that position.
If we don’t beat Guniea-Bissau, it will change our way in confidence and the general good feeling we are having now.
Question: You have always said Nigeria will win the AFCON from day one when you were hired, do you still stand by it?
Peseiro: Yes, I said I want to win AFCON even though my contract says I should get to the final, I will not say no now, though it would have been better to protect myself and not create expectations because if I don’t win, it is worse for me. But I have put my mind and the minds of my players that we want to win. Yes, there are very good teams that also want to win: Morocco, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana… and even Cape Verde are playing very well to win. There are favourites, candidates and outsiders.
