Friendly: ‘Eagles had bad first half against Mexico’

Super Eagles against Mexican player

New Super Eagles handler, Jose Peseiro, has admitted that his team did not impress during the first half of the friendly against El Tri of Mexico.

Nigeria bowed 1-2 to Mexico in the early hours of Sunday in a friendly played at the AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, USA.

“We cannot hide it; we played a very bad first half,” Peseiro told ESPN.

“We had five players in defence, and they had two players playing forward and the two players controlled the five. They were pressing and we did not solve it. We cannot have that.

“We decided that if the two was controlling the three, then we have to make it a four and have more control in midfield.

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“And it helped us take control of the game because as a coach, my philosophy is that I like control, to control the game.”

Peseiro also declared that he is an apostle of attacking football, a pattern his team must surely prepare to adopt come rain or shine.

“My philosophy as a coach is to play attacking football. I love my team to score and pressure the opponent, this is the best way to unsettle your opponent and win games.

“That is how we played in the second half against Mexico.

“And we will work more ahead of the Ecuador game,” said Peseiro who had his debut appearance as Super Eagles.
Peseiro will be going for his second game on June 2 when Nigeria face Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena, New Jersey in another friendly.

Meanwhile, President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick,expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Super Eagles despite the defeat.

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“I am happy with what we put up out there. It was the first time after the disappointment of the World Cup playoff and you can say this is a makeshift team, while Mexico had their full-strength squad out there.

“I like what I saw today and I have confidence that we have appointed the right coach that can restore the glory of the Super Eagles and make them start winning once more,” Pinnick was quoted as saying.

Sporting Tribune