Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles Head Coach: Stay or Go…
Following a disappointing 0-1 2023 AFCON qualifiers loss to Guinea-Bissau on Friday evening, Super Eagles Head Coach Jose Peseiro has come in for criticism with arguments raised whether he should stay or go.
In this article Caretaker x-rays points raised by opinion holders, Peseiro`s stats as manager of the Super Eagles plus prediction as the team heads out for the return leg vs Guinea Bissau on Monday March 27.
The PESEIRO STAY Group
The Peseiro Stay group is minority on this subject. This set of opinion holders are either asking for more time for the Portuguese tactician or blaming the players for lack of commitment, the poor state of the Playing pitch of the Moshood Abiola Staduim, Abuja, and non-factual other who think the country is cursed.
In their arguments, members of this group believe the Eagles will get better if and when; Peseiro has found his best starting XI. The players are ready to replicate their club commitments when playing for Nigeria or the teams home games are moved to the Godswill Akpabio International Staduim, Uyo which has a better playing turf than the Moshood Abiola Staduim.
The PESEIRO GO Group
The majority opinion at the moment. This set of opinion holders are tired of watching the Eagles lose game after game under Peseiro who has won only two matches since taking charge of the Eagles in May 2022.
Some opinion holders in this group believe the appointment of Jose Peseiro by the out-gone Nigeria Football Federation board led by Amaju Pinnick was destined to fail because of the controversial path his appointment took.
In 2021, following the sack of Genot Rohr, the NFF announced the appointment of Jose Peseiro as Head Coach of the Super Eagles but in a twist, the Portuguese manager denied knowledge of such development and so Technical Director of the NFF Austin Eguaveon was placed in charge of the team to the AFCON in Cameroon.
An unfortunate AFCON round of 16 elimination plus 2022 World Cup qualification playoff loss to Ghana led to a revisit of the Jose Peseiro appointment file.
But for the record setting 0-10 mauling of Sao Tome and Principe, the Eagles have struggled under Peseiro including and his only other win was a scrappy win in AFCON Qualifying opener against Sierra Leone.
The PESEIRO GO group are also unhappy with his style of player selection. The last list for example had many players who are currently inactive at their clubs at the expense of some players who are enjoying peak form.
PESEIRO STAY OR GO: OPINION
For me, Jose Peseiro will not have his contract renewed when it expires in June. The current NFF leadership since inception has never hidden its desire to cut in on the Federations expenditure.
The rotation of number of coaches per SUper Eagles engagement is an example and so the Federation will gladly accept to part with the Portuguese manager and hand the job to a Coach who will cost less, after-all the appointment of a foreign gaffer has not yielded any fantastic achievement.
WHAT NEXT FOR PESEIRO
Jose Peseiro will look away from the talks and focus on getting the Eagles in good shape for the return leg vs Guinea-Bissau. An opportunity to redeem his image and possibly win over some members of the PESEIRO GO group.
A win vs Guinea-Bissau will return Nigeria to top spot in the qualifying group which also houses Peseiro`s only two better-than Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe.
