AFCON 2023: Peseiro’s chance to make statement – Nigeria vs Cameroon preview

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AFCON 2023: Peseiro’s chance to make statement – Nigeria vs Cameroon preview

There was a time Cameroon loomed ominously over Nigeria.

It reached a peak when the Indomitable Lions defeated the Super Eagles in the final of the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations in Lagos.

When it comes to AFCON finals, Cameroon have won all three against Nigeria.

But recently, the Eagles seem to have overcome that mental barrier and have recorded impressive wins against one of their biggest rivals on the continent.

They won when both sides clashed at the AFCON, winning 3-2 at the same last-16 stage in 2019.

This year, Nigeria came through the group phase unbeaten with seven points and just one goal conceded. Cameroon only qualified thanks to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Gambia, after they had been 2-1 down with five minutes left.

The general expectation is that Jose Peseiro will edge out the five-time winners.

Author and Super Eagles fan, JJ Omojuwa, believes the extra quality in the Nigerian squad will be a huge advantage.

“I believe this is a game that will be decided by quality,” Omojuwa tells Waploaded.

“Both teams aren’t playing well at the moment and are far from their heyday having been overshadowed by Senegal and Morocco in recent times.

“I believe Nigeria’s quality will just be enough to see the Super Eagles through,” he added.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday ahead of the game, Peseiro insisted he will stick to a 3-4-3 formation, which he deployed for the last two group games.

The tactical set-up has seen the Eagles win 1-0 on each occasion.

However, the feeling back home is that Peseiro does not have the technical and tactical clout to manage the national team.

Omojuwa agrees.

He said: “I don’t believe Jose Peseiro has the ability or pedigree to manage the Super Eagles. His record before this tournament is one of the poorest runs by a substantive manager of the Super Eagles.

“That said, over the 3 matches played so far in this tournament, I can’t completely fault his tactics.

“Against Equatorial Guinea, the team was more positive and got the chances to prove it. In the end, poor conversion was the telling shortcoming. We could only convert 1 of about 20 shots.

“The manager became more conservative against the hosts, Côte d’Ivoire with Victor Osimhen labouring alone upfront. We ended up not creating as many chances in a defensive performance. In the end, we defeated the host.

Against Guinea-Bissau that one would have expected the Super Eagles to be as adventurous as they were in the first game, we were again defensively minded as the team played with hand breaks on. We managed to win a game that had no business being right.

“So far, on the whole, whilst I do not think Jose Peseiro has the wherewithal to manage the Super Eagles, the biggest shortcoming of the team so far is that they aren’t converting their chances. You can’t blame that on the coach.

“If the Super Eagles create as many chances as we did in the first game, Cameroon will suffer.

“It’s a knock-out game though so expect a tactical game of attrition. It will be decided by quality. I believe Nigeria has got more on that front. It could be my Nigeria bias speaking though.”