Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has defended his tactics at the African Cup of Nations, saying his team was simply swallowed up the atmosphere at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium Abidjan, where the Super Eagles lost 2-1 to the Elephants in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
This is just as he announced Friday that his contract with the NFF is officially over: “Yesterday, we concluded our contract with the NFF.
“It was a pride and honor to coach the Super Eagles. It has been 22 months of immense dedication, sacrifice, emotion, and enormous enthusiasm. We feel a sense of fulfillment,” he wrote on his X page.
After the AFCON many Nigerian football enthusiasts believe that Peseiro’s approach to the games in the tournament boxed in Nigerian players, most especially in the final game. But speaking to goal.com, the Portuguese coach said his team has been fantastic throughout the tournament, but they got ‘fever’ in the final against the Elephants.
“We opted for 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 systems,” said Peseiro.
“We started working on these two diagrams in Abu Dhabi during our internship. And the guys very quickly understood what we wanted to do. From the first match against Equatorial Guinea, even if we didn’t win, it bore fruit.
“They put into practice what we had worked on. Everyone got into tune, following the offensive and defensive instructions to the letter. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to work on the offensive aspect a little more.
” We were perfect until the final, where unfortunately two mistakes cost us dearly. And once again, I put it down to pressure. In 3-4-3, we played very well and it was best suited to our team.
“There are two things. First there is the fact that Cote d’Ivoire reached the final of the competition having avoided the worst each time. They were almost eliminated three times. In the final, they were more liberated.
“They weren’t under as much pressure as at the start of the competition. Second thing, I think the energy there was that day in the stadium touched us. If I had to rate our performance, it was perhaps our worst game.
” In previous matches, we have always been in control and we have created a lot of opportunities. But in this match, even at 1-0 for us, we were feverish. The atmosphere penalised my players. We didn’t have the same abilities. There were too many lost balls. If I had to analyse, I would say that two or three of my players played at their true level. They wanted to do their best, but they couldn’t.
Peseiro added that the team’s desire was to win the trophy.
“I told everyone that I want to win the next AFCON because I was certain that we could do it. I believed it, my staff believed it, my players too, but not the people outside.
“And I’m happy because we did a fantastic job reaching the final. It has been shown that Nigeria still belongs to the best nations on the continent. And who wants to fight for trophies. On the other hand, I’m also sad because we lost.
“After the final, I was definitely sad. And since we didn’t manage to do it, I can’t be happy. But on the other hand, when I saw the way the Nigerian people and government welcomed us when we returned to Abuja after the AFCON, I could only be proud of what we achieved. People were satisfied and they thanked us. Everyone in the streets, and even the media, made us understand that they were happy with us. And that’s a good feeling.”
Peseiro and Ahmed Musa at the AFCON