What Nigerians should expect from new Super Eagles coach Peseiro

New Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has commenced his tenure as the manager of Nigeria’s senior male football team on an initial one-year deal, and his first engagement will be against Ecuador and Mexico in the USA in June. The Portuguese coach tweeted in his official capacity, stating his readiness to start work and his goal to deliver an AFCON title.

The Super Eagles camp for the two friendlies in Texas has already opened, and a new era beckons for Nigerian football. The new Super Eagles coach has a technical crew composed of a mix of local and foreign coaches, including Enyimba manager Finidi George as 1st assistant, Kano Pillars boss Salisu Yusuf as 2nd assistant, Katsina United coach Usman Abd’Allah as 3rd assistant, Ike Shorumu as Goalkeeper trainer, Maykel Moreira as fitness trainer, Acacio Santos as assistant coach, and Vitor Hugo and Eboboritse Uwejamomere as analysts.

As Nigerians prepare for the commencement of the new era, it is only right to look at the track record of the new Super Eagles coach and have a few of what he brings to the party.

Jose Peseiro last worked as Head Coach of the Venezuela national team between February 2020 and August 2021, taking charge of 10 matches. He won only one of the 10 games, a 2-1 win over Chile in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier, losing six matches. Prior to that, he had worked as Sporting Lisbon’s manager between July and November 2018, winning nine of his 14 games in charge of the club.

Overall, Peseiro has a better record than his predecessor in Nigeria’s Super Eagles Gernot Rohr, with 175 wins from 362 official matches (48.3% win rate). Rohr has managed only 151 wins in 402 matches as a manager (37.6% win rate).

Like Rohr, Peseiro is a huge fan of the 4-2-3-1 formation but showed tactical astuteness in his time as Venezuela manager, switching between 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, and 5-4-1 based on the opposition faced. The Portuguese manager employed in the 5-4-1 in half of his matches as Venezuela manager, losing only twice when he played the formation.

Peseiro does not seem to be a huge fan of possession-based football, with his Venezuela side averaging around 40% possession during his time as Head Coach.

Peseiro started his voyage into professional management as Real Madrid’s assistant coach in 2003 and has worked all over the world. The 62-year-old manager has won the Egyptian league title with giants Al-Ahly and the Portuguese League Cup with SC Braga.

Since his appointment as the new Super Eagles coach, Nigeria’s media space has been agog with speculation of how he plans to go about his work, but there is a first chance to see how he will set his team up when the Super Eagles face Mexico and Ecuador on May 29th and June 3rd, respectively.

Peseiro has pledged to deliver AFCON back to Nigeria, and Nigerians will certainly hold him to his word.