Nigeria vs South Africa: Super Eagles Coach Jose Peseiro Lists 2 Key Players Missing in Action

Nigeria vs South Africa: Super Eagles Coach Jose Peseiro Lists 2 Key Players Missing in Action

  • Jose Peseiro wants the Super Eagles to change their play tactics and score more goals as they prepare to face South Africa in the semifinals
  • The coach, who said Kelechi Iheanacho and Joe Aribo would not participate in the match, believes the Eagles have what it takes to defeat the Bafana Bafana of South Africa
  • Meanwhile, Nigeria progressed to the semifinal stage after defeating Cameroon and Angola in the AFCON tournament

Legit .ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

Nigeria's coach José Peseiro has said Wednesday's Africa Cup of Nations semifinal against South Africa in Bouake will be challenging for the Super Eagles because Kelechi Iheanacho and Joe Aribo will not be in action.

Nigeria's coach José Peseiro, Super Eagles
Peseiro expressed concern as Iheanacho and Joe Aribo will not play with the Super Eagles in Wednesday's match. Photo credit: @JosePeseiro, MB Media/Getty Images
Source: Twitter

Peseiro urged the Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen and his attacking partners to be more clinical upfront and be more defensive in their attack against the Bafana Bafana, Leadership reported.

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Nigeria vs South Africa: How Super Eagles narrowly escaped defeat, Peseiro shares details

“We’re missing some key creators like (Kelechi) Iheanacho and (Joe) Aribo, so it’s been hard. But others must now step up,” Peseiro said.

Following their narrow 1-0 victory over Angola in the quarterfinals, Peseiro acknowledged that his team had been fortunate, but they needed to create more scoring opportunities in the upcoming match, The Guardian report added.

Meanwhile, the Eagles will face South Africa in the first semifinal match of the ongoing 2023 AFCON tournament on Wednesday, February 7, in Bouake, Cote d'Ivoire.

Interestingly, Ademola Lookman scored Nigeria's last three goals at the knockout stages, which secured a spot for Nigeria in the tournament, while Victor Osimhen got a goal in their pool opener against Equatorial Guinea.

But the other two strikes were a penalty from William Troost-Ekong and an own goal from Guinea-Bissau's Opa Sangante.

Read also

AFCON 2023: Nigeria coach points out 1 impressive quality of defeated South Africa

With just six goals scored in five games, the Portuguese feels the Super Eagles aren't capitalising on their quality.

AFCON: Peseiro places phone ban on players

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Super Eagles players were ordered to switch off their mobile phones from 9pm daily ahead of their AFCON semifinal clash against South Africa.

The coach, Jose Peseiro, gave the order after some of the players were seen playing the game 'Call of Duty' on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Peseiro reportedly gave the order to avoid distractions and enable the Super Eagles players to remain focused ahead of their crucial game.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Esther Odili avatar

Esther Odili (Politics and Current Affairs Editor) Esther Odili is a journalist and a Politics/Current Affairs Editor at Legit.ng with 6+ years of experience. Before joining Legit.ng, Esther has worked with other reputable media houses, such as the New Telegraph newspaper and Galaxy Television. She Holds OND and HND in Mass Communication from NIJ, where she was recognized as the best student in print journalism in 2018. Email: esther.odili@corp.legit.ng.