Following the Super Eagles’ lackluster 0-1 outcome against Guinea-Bissau in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Friday, top football stakeholders in the nation have urged the Nigeria Football Federation to fire the coach, José Peseiro.
With three games remaining, the Djurtus from the West African nation go one point ahead of the Eagles in Group A, thanks to a goal from Mama Balde in the first half.
The Eagles however remain in contention to be among two qualifiers from the group and will have a reverse fixture with their conquerors on Monday in Bissau.
With the qualifiers halfway gone, Guinea-Bissau lead the group with seven points, Nigeria six, Sierra Leone two while São Tomé e Príncipe with just a point are at the foot of the table.
The shocking victory in Abuja increased the Djurtus’ chances of returning to the continental showpiece in Côte d’Ivoire after finishing fourth in a group of four teams in the last AFCON edition held early last year in Cameroon.
It was the first time in three decades that the Eagles failed to win a game in three straight games. The three-time African champions earlier suffered friendly defeats at the hands of Algeria (1-2), Portugal (0-4), and now Guinea Bissau (0-1).
Since Peseiro took charge as coach of the Eagles, he has recorded only two wins – against Sierra Leone and São Tomé – in the seven games that he has managed the team. He was not with the Eagles when they lost to Costa Rica in a pre-FIFA World Cup friendly last November.
Former Eagles defender Sam Sodje believed Peseiro’s defensive frailties were exposed by the Djurtus. “You can’t win games if you do not defend well as a team”, he said.
“He (Peseiro) should leave. Even the best teams defend well as a unit. We lost to the Djurtus because they defended well”.
Ace sports broadcaster, Temisan Okomi questioned Peseiro’s competence and that of his technical abilities. “At the rate, we are going I don’t even know if we have a coaching problem or a team problem”, Okomi began.
“The truth of the matter is that Peseiro is absolutely not useful as a coach to us. It’s not working at all. He has only won two games in seven games, it’s untenable. The problem we have is that we cannot even sack him because we don’t have money but if we can, the NFF should sack him immediately.
“Peseiro has not worked for us and we need to find another coach fast”.
Football analyst Ralph Chidozie-George said that Peseiro should be replaced to avoid further embarrassing results. “Peseiro does not deserve to be the coach of the Eagles”, he said.
“The Eagle’s job is bigger than him. He does not have what it takes to coach Nigeria. He also does not have the strong will to lead the team. From his results, we’ve only been able to beat Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and another low country as Guinea-Bissau just defeated the Eagles at home and he has lost all his friendly games. This is not the coach that will take the Eagles beyond the mediocre level Gernot Rohr left the team.
“His list of players for the game doesn’t look like a team selected based on current form, and as you can, see all the players who struggled for game time at their respective clubs messed up our game against Guinea-Bissau”.
Sports journalist Afolabi Gambari said that Peseiro lacks the technical ability to lead the Eagles out of the doldrums. “Peseiro’s competence is suspect, as far as I know. He is clueless and not desirable of the Eagles and because of the cost, he should just go away”, he analysed.
Source: Saturday PUNCH
