Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has explained the reason why his team was beaten 0-2 by Guinea in the final warm up game before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
In an interview on the official TV channel of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the coach blamed the loss on the fact that they played an unfamiliar formation in 3-4-3, which is a departure from their traditional 4-4-2.
“We test a new system today 3-4-3 and I think we did a very good first half. Of course we were losing 0-1 but it was an undeserved one. We miss a penalty and we had two or three clear chances, I think we deserve more in the first half than in the second half”, he said.
” In the second half I think it is more balanced between the teams . You look forward to the results when you play against a team with a good speed and good counter attack, it is not easy. We lost the balance in the midfield and for that I changed the formation to 4-3-3. They got three or four situations to counter attack and even though they scored the second goal I am happy with the team.
Speaking further, he said his decision to change the team also affected their rhythm with many players from the team that secured a 12-0 win over a Dubai selected side not listed in the game.
“I changed the team , I didn’t play all the players, I tried to manage in these two matches the team I didn’t show the first eleven. We showed two first eleven and I am happy but the second half was worse and you feel more the pain because of the work, we did a lot along the week but it’s okay I am happy with the first half but second half not so good”, he stated.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman