The new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro says his idea of how his team should play stays same regardless of the tactics he decides to use in games.

Peseiro made this known while responding to questions during the team’s pre match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s AFCON 2023 qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Abuja.

OwnGoalNigeria.com senior editor, Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman sought to hear from the coach which tactics is his favourite as he has so far used two different formations in just two games in charge of the team.

Super Eagles started the game against Mexico which they lost 1-2 playing in a 5-3-2 formation before switching to 4-4-2. A move which the coach explained was due to the players available to him.

He explained that regardless of the system he plays, he want the Super Eagles to play an attacking brand of football and dominate teams both offensively and defensively.

“We played 5-3-2 not because I like playing 5-3-2 but you know the players who are there. You know I adapt our model, our tactics to the players who came with us there. Local players but first of all I try to put in the pitch, the normal players in the national team. After that I put young players in the field. For creating that team for the eleven that will play, I use the characteristic of the players to play 5-3-2”, he explained.

In my mind I have to manage the players. We could not play 4-3-2 or 4-4-2 because I didn’t have all the players there. More defensive players than in attack, more defensive players than midfield players only that. You can play 3-5-2, 4-3-2 or 4-3-3. It’s not about the model, the main thing is the principle.

I like to attack, I like to play with high pressure, I like to command the game with the ball. I can do it with 5-3-2, 4-4-2, 3-4-3 like you want but with little training of course and you need time for that but I know I have players with quality, who can learn quickly. It’s different when you train Nigeria than other teams who don’t have qualities like our players. What I know is that they learn quickly”, he concluded.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro had his first full press conference with the Nigerian media ahead of his first competitive game as coach of the team.

OwnGoalNigeria.com witnessed the session and here are what the Portuguese coach said about playing games in the Moshood Abiola Stadium Abuja in the wake of reports that he criticised the playing surface, also his favourite tactis and his target of winning the next Africa Cup of Nations.

State Of Abuja Pitch

I don’t know, I didn’t complain. I didn’t speak with anyone about the pitch, about the stadium nothing. I don’t know about how come this news because I didn’t speak to any journalist. I speak to journalists at this press conference instead only that because our focus is the match. For us is about my team playing very well tomorrow and beat Sierra Leone.

It’s my life, my career and I am okay with my career but it’s okay. I accept the critics, I accept the protagonist. I accept everything but now for me only think I can advice you or what I can say to you is you must evaluate my job here.

Winning Next AFCON 

Why did you think I told the president of the NFF that I want to come here? Why did you think I said I want to win the next AFCON, Why? Can you tell me? Because I believe in the players like you congratulations (laughs).

Of course i believe in them. I am not a crazy guy. I came here because I want to work. If I don’t work, you are going to kill me. I have confidence and myself as well. I can choose a good way with them. All of my career I build on the idea, super idea. Modern day idea , training ideas and about many things for many years. Of course that idea in me and my staff you need to share, you need to join with my players in this environment for them to learn also because it’s possible something that I want, I like but I can’t not do here.

I need to adapt to them. In this moment you start in stages. Start to see, to hear and to feel what I can do here. For that I spoke with the players, I spoke with the staff. I spoke with everybody. Step by step I will go to learn more about this context, about this environment, about the characteristics of my players not only in the video because I saw so many videos but I will know better when I go to the pitch and train with them.

Along the few days we did some exercises, I must see if they adapt, if they like my tactics for tomorrow. It’s one process but you must win tomorrow. We have time for that but first of all I want to win and we must win.

Favourite Tactics 

We played 5-3-2 not because I like playing 5-3-2 but you know the players who are there. You know I adapt our model, our tactics to the players who came with us there. Local players but first of all I try to put in the pitch, the normal players in the national team. After that I put young players in the field. For creating that team for the eleven that will play, I use the characteristic of the players to play 5-3-2.

In my mind I have to manage the players. We could not play 4-3-2 or 4-4-2 because I didn’t have all the players there. More defensive players than in attack, more defensive players than midfield players only that. You can play 3-5-2, 4-3-2 or 4-3-3. It’s not about the model, the main thing is the principle.

I like to attack, I like to play with high pressure, I like to command the game with the ball. I can do it with 5-3-2, 4-4-2, 3-4-3 like you want but with little training of course and you need time for that but I know I have players with quality, who can learn quickly. It’s different when you train Nigeria than other teams who don’t have qualities like our players. What I know is that they learn quickly.

The senior national team of Nigeria are close to rounding up preparation for tomorrow’s game against Sierra Leone which is their first in the race to be at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

New coach Jose Peseiro has been taking the team in training with two friendly games against Mexico and Ecuador ending in 1-2 and 0-1 losses respectively. Sierra Leone will be his first competitive game in charge.

It appears he is keen on playing a system that accommodates two strikers in attack as he used same formation in both friendly games. He paired Cyriel Dessers with Terem Moffi.

However that hasn’t been the case so far as he has in the last two session of the team used the pair of Victor Osimhen and Sadiq Umar in attack with the former slightly ahead. The coach had a private session with the duo yesterday and that has added more to the idea that they might start tomorrow.

Peseiro is also leaning towards a new central defence partnership with the duo of Semi Ajayi and William Troost Ekong. He has had them play with the team that looks likely to start tomorrow. Also his assistant Acacio Santos did several drills with the duo.

The one area where the coach still remain undecided is the area of left full back. It’s a straight fight between Calvin Bassey and Zaidu Sanusi. Bassey slightly ahead but he might be drafted to play in central defence if Peseiro decides to play with the 3-5-2 formation.

The recent outcry over the continual presence of captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa in the team’s set up took a different turn after he made a u-turn on his decision to retire from international football.

Musa said the last Africa Cup of Nations will be his last tournament but he has backtracked on that statement and he is presently in the camp of the team getting set for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone.

He went further to say he is looking forward to the tournament as well in Cote d’Ivoire next year. Clearly making a statement that he is going to be around for the foreseeable future. The big question is if he deserve to still be in the team.

OwnGoalNigeria.com senior editor, Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman takes a look at why he is still in the team beyond the fact that he wears the captain armband or as some will like to ignorantly assume represents a power bloc in the hierarchy of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

In all of these, one thing people against the presence of Musa in the team fail to see is that he isn’t stopping anyone from getting a look in or starting games. He is not even a starter the past two years. As many as six players have started games ahead of him within that period under review.

Again Musa’s presence isn’t why Samuel Chukwueze who is still ahead of the 29 year old in the pecking order hasn’t delivered as expected. He started like a house on fire but these days many feel he isn’t even suppose to be in the team, how much more starting games.

Samuel Kalu is another who at a time was preferred ahead of Musa. However Kalu’s club form became so bad that his move to Watford from the bench of Bordeaux came as a suprise to even the player himself. At Watford he isn’t seen as an option with injuries and fitness his biggest issue. You can’t blame Musa for that.

Then there was Chidera Ejuke, He blew everyone away with ease. Dribbles like he bought boots for the defenders. But after six to seven games with little or no impact in goals or assists. His spot in the team became a huge debate and today he is out of it completely. A case of not taking your chances when you had one. Blame Musa? I know you rather not.

Emmanuel Dennis readily comes to mind. He had a very good season at Watford with eleven goals to his name. But if not for the sack of Gernot Rohr he might still be in the wilderness of international football. It wasn’t about ability, it was about indiscipline. That kept him out for so long.

When he eventually got his chance. He decided to skip the Africa Cup of Nations to focus on his club career. How is that Musa’s fault? After the AFCON, he came back for the game against Ghana. Aside from giving space and time to the player who laid the assist for Thomas Partey’s goal which ended Nigeria’s World Cup hopes. One can’t remember what he did for the around 70 minutes he was on the pitch.

Musa came in as a substitute in same game and showed the kind of passion, dedication and commitment that the team lacked, it was however a little bit too late for him to decide the game. One thing is you can’t say Dennis wasn’t given his chance. Another player picked ahead of Musa. Are you still with me?

Then there is Ademola Lookman. It took almost forever to sort his switch of nationality from England to Nigeria. You can’t blame Musa for that. He became available and played just once. Still has time to prove if he is capable of keeping Musa out. Again he was picked twice ahead of Musa. So Musa’s presence had no effect on his stay in the team.

Many forget so soon that Alex Iwobi was the go to guy from that position which Musa stole the heart and soul of the world at the World Cup. Infact Musa didn’t start the first game of the tournament. Iwobi did but when he was handed his chance, he made the difference against Iceland. True?

Now Iwobi prefers to play in the midfield not because of Musa but he sees that position as his area of strength. Should we blame Musa for that?

All the players mentioned above haven’t stepped up as expected. It’s worthy to note that at their age Musa was already a serial match winner for Nigeria. Again what’s the debate about the inclusion of a player who played 31 games last season? How many players in the team played that much last season? Very few. Oh please shut up. Musa deserve his spot.

Coach of the Nigeria U17 team Nduka Ugbade earlier today released a list of 20 played who will represent Nigeria at the WAFU B Championship in Ghana. The coach also places five players on standby.

OwnGoalNigeria.com takes a look at five top players in the team who will likely take the tournament by storm underway when the opening proceedings against host Ghana.

Richard Odoh- A very promising goalkepper with very good reflex and a firm grip. Claims crosses with ease and also very good at stopping penalties. One to watch out for in the tournament.

Yahaya Danjuma Lawali – The vice captain of the team who operates as a right back or left full back. Good and assured on the ball and very good in tackles. His energy enables him to join attack with ease where he is also not bad at delivering crosses.

Emmanuel Michael – Came to the camp as an attacking midfielder. Drafted to the left back after the two options in that position failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.

Since moving to left back he has not only distinguished himself in defending. He has also proven to be deadly from set pieces. He scored at least four free kicks in test games. The Simoiben Academy talent is among the first name on the team’s list for games.

Ebube Okere – A workaholic midfielder who can operate anywhere in the middle of the pack. Tackles and uses the ball very well. Blessed with an eye for a pass. Certainly holds the key to the team transiting from defence to attack with ease.

Precious Williams- His performance has already led to talks of the forward having a better ceiling than Victor Osimhen at same level. Scored around 40% of the teams goal at the tournament in test games. He is the captain of the team and expected to lead their chase for goals.

GOLDEN EAGLETS FOR WAFU B U17 CHAMPIONSHIP IN CAPE COAST

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Richard Odoh, Hameed Balogun, Pascal Uzoho

Defenders: Jeremiah Olaleke, Emmanuel Michael, Tochukwu Ogboji, Yahaya Lawal, Miracle Ogwor

Midfielders: Basil Mbata, Ebube Okere, Tochukwu Ogbabido, Richard Uche, Ozor Okeke, Raphael Oyebanjo

Forwards: Umar Abubakar, Kevwe Iyede, Light Eke, Abubakar Abdullahi, Jubril Azeez, Precious Williams

Standby: Utibe Silas, Abdullahi Buhari, Abubakar Shaibu, Tijjani Mohammed, Stephen Emmanuel

Genk of Belgium forward Cyriel Dessers says his aim is to score more goal for the senior national team of Nigeria as the team gear up for Thursday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sierra Leone in Abuja.

Dessers opened his goal account for the Nigerian team in the 1-2 friendly loss to Mexico in the United States of America but fired blank in the next friendly game which the team lost 0-1 to Ecuador.

He says the goal is a dream come true for him and till date he gets goosebumps when discussing his first international goal which he hopes will be the first of many in the colours of the senior national team of Nigeria.

We caught up with the forward for an exclusive interview with OwnGoalNigeria.com in the camp of the Super Eagles and he spoke about the experience of scoring for Nigeria as well his time on loan to Feyenoord, where he emerged as top scorer last season in the Conference League. He also spoke about his immediate club future.

On his first goal for Nigeria:

“It’s an amazing feeling, that’s something you dream of for years, and to score my first goal against an opponent like Mexico and happening in a big stadium, it’s hard to believe.  When I talk about the goal, I get goosebumps, but I hope there would be some more goals to come from me.

On competing with Osimhen and co in Super Eagles Attack

It’s pretty hard just like you said because we have eight or nine players who can be called up but of course there are only three here. We have to fight hard to be in top shape but I enjoyed this battle, it’s not even a battle because we do it for the country. I enjoy the competition we have and when we arrive here of course we are here to help each other, to support each other because we all have one goal.

On his form last season for Feyenoord 

I think I had a pretty good season. I scored 21 goals , we got to the final of the Europa Conference League which was an unbelievable achievement. Unfortunately we lost it against AS Roma but also in the league we did some pretty good things because Feyenoord has had some really difficult season but I think this season we built up the confidence again, we built the relationship with the fans with some nice football, attacking football with a lot of goals. I think that might be the biggest victory we had this season.

On staying at Feyenoord or returning to Genk

I don’t look at it like that because it’s also possible I make a move abroad. I think I am 27 years old now. I had a good season becoming top scorer in the Conference League. So maybe this is also a chance for me to make a step abroad.

Nigeria international defender Ola Aina says he is aiming for a fresh start with the senior national team of Nigeria under new coach Jose Peseiro starting with the first competitive game against Sierra Leone on Thursday.

The former Chelsea defender has already had a taste of life under the new coach as he was part of the team that lost 0-1 to Ecuador in an international friendly in the United States of America, in what was Peseiro’s second consecutive loss after the 1-2 loss to Mexico.

Aina who is in the camp of the team spoke exclusively to OwnGoalNigeria.com on range of issues from what led to the failure to qualify for the World Cup after the 1-1 draw with Ghana in Abuja to his future at Italian Serie A side Torino.

On last season
I think my season started well because you know I was playing really well, starting all the time and then after January like everyone knows the game time wasn’t there much. It was a little much up and down but I think I finished the season really strong. We will have to see what happens over the summer. I am not sure. I have only one year left, I am not sure what will happen.

Failure to qualify for World Cup

The game in Abuja, I think we went into the game very confident. I think I certainly did. I feel like we were on the front foot from the first whistle you know. You see Victor goal was disallowed. We had many opportunities in the first half to many even put the game to sleep very early but it wasn’t to happen and this things happen to football.

New coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro gave an idea of how the team will probably line up against Sierra Leone on Thursday during yesterday’s training.

Peseiro had the team play a practice match among themselves which ended in a win for the team that looks more like the B team as it had less of the players who are expected to be in the starting lineup. Cyriel Dessers scored the only goal of the session.

The coach paired Dessers in attack with Terem Moffi like he did in the two friendly games against Mexico and Ecuador respectively. While for the other team he had Victor Osimhen in attack as a pair with Sadiq Umar.

It appears the team will play in a 4-4-2 formation with the full backs occupying very high position to allow the wingers drift in to join the attackers in the box. Yesterday’s training it was Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze who were deployed to the wings.

Per yesterday training, the coach is focused more on how the players will make use of the ball in possession and also how they defend without it as he had specific drills on those aspect during the course of the training.

Green Jerseys: Uzoho, Ekong, Ajayi, Ola, Bassey, Iwobi, Aribo, Simon, Samu, Osimhen, Sadiq

Training Bib: Adewale, Omeruo (Awaziem), Balogun, Zaidu, Shehu, Etebo, Onyeka, Lookman (Sani), Musa, Dessers, Moffi.

Yesterday the senior national team of Nigeria had their second training in Abuja ahead of the start of the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, where they will take on Sierra Leone in Abuja.

Head coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro had the full compliment of 24 players in training although two players trained separately from the rest of the squad as they bid to return to full fitness. They are the duo of Innocent Bonke and Emmanuel Dennis.

OwnGoalNigeria noticed the training methods of the coach is entirely different from that of his former foreign predecessor Gernot Rohr from the way the team warm up to how the session as a whole unfolds.

Rohr usually have the boys run laps and do drills with cone before stretching and playing against each other but that is not the same with Peseiro usually have them do the warm up drills with balls.

His drills are mostly with the ball and more tactical. It’s easy to tell that he wants his team to be dominant on the ball hence always ensuring that in training they are comfortable with the ball at all times.

Also it’s not the usual playing of games between themselves like it was during the tenure of Rohr. Peseiro yesterday had them play a mini round robin game in a tight space where he divided them into four separate teams.

We later gathered from one of the players that the essence of the drill in such a tight space is to help them break down teams that will sit back to defend. A scenario they expect will happen against Sierra Leone on Thursday.

His drills are more tactical and intense right from the warm up to the games the players had among themselves. He pays more attention to details and individual trainings than Rohr who was at the helm for six years.

The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Ahmed Musa has turned his back on his proposed retirement from international football insisting that he still has what it takes to play for the senior national team of Nigeria.

In a press conference before the Super Eagles campaign started at the last Africa Cup of Nations, Musa said the tournament will be his last in the colours of Nigeria but he has now made a u-turn on that statement.

“Yes, I said it was my last tournament, but I did not say I am out of the Super Eagles; what people say is their opinion but for me, I am still a player of the Super Eagles. I have not called it quit and the coaches know that I have something to give and that’s why I am here with the team”, he told journalists during yesterday’s training.

He said he is looking forward to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and hopefully be a part of the team for the tournament if he is still actively playing football. He reckoned his invitation is in the hands of the coach and whenever he is called up he will honour it.

“The next AFCON is in 2023, so if I am still playing active football and the coach says he still wants me around, I am very much available to give my best.The invitation is not in my hands, only they can invite and if they do, I would always honour the invitation,” Musa said.