Caretaker coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen has explained why the team reverted to a 3-4-3 formation in the AFCON qualifiers game against Benin Republic, which they won 3-0.
Nigeria proved to be too strong for their West African neighbors who defeated them 1-2 three months ago in the world cup qualifiers. This time around a brace from Ademola Lookman sandwiched in between a Victor Osimhen handed Super Eagles a comprehensive win.
The one key determinant was the decision of the coach to revert to 3-4-3, the same formation the team used to good effect at the AFCON where they went all the way to the final before losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire.
Explaining the decision to go with the formation, Eguavoen said the quality of players at his disposal made it easy for him to decide on the style, knowing fully well that they can interpret it to good effect.
“Formation is only information . We have players with quality we can decide to play any formation. It is something we discussed and I also observed and I slept over it and I know with the kind of players we have, we can decide to play any formation and be successful because the players are always there”, he said at the post match presser .
“When much is expected from Nigeria that is when you see performance. We have been getting a lot of backlash and the boys know we have the calibre and quality to beat any team, but we respect teams. So anybody can come in and do the same job. We have the mindset, we have the potential and it’s how you check out your opponents and give information and they will go out and do the job”.
