Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro has finally revealed why Nigeria’s Super Eagles were defensive-minded in Ivory Coast.
Despite reaching the final, some football stakeholders and fans believed the team was more defensive which is quite unusual with the team.
While speaking to Goal, Peseiro revealed the reason he changed the team’s style of play.
“The matches before the tournament were used to help the team progress. And despite this, we only lost to Guinea at home. And during a match where we created a lot of opportunities. In qualifying for the World Cup, indeed,t it wasn’t good.
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Against Lesotho, it was the same thing, we dominated a lot and they scored on one of their only two shots of the match.
Against Zimbabwe, the conditions were bad. Many parameters impacted our performance there. Then, in our preparation for this tournament, I chose a different way to play.
With my staff, we realized that we were playing offensively in our 4-4-2 system, that we were creating a lot of chances but that we were conceding avoidable goals on semi-chances. I felt that our team needed more solidity.
More confidence in our defensive work and our organization”, he said.
