2023 AFCON: Jose Peseiro Wants More Goals Ahead Of Nigeria Vs South Africa Clash

Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro has insisted that he wants his players to score more goals while acknowledging the defensive prowess of his team.

Jose Peseiro and his team have recorded four wins and a draw since the 2023 AFCON started on January 13.

Nigeria started the campaign with a 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea on January 14. They followed that up with a 1-0 win over the hosts, Ivory Coast, and then ended the group stage campaign with a 1-0 win over Guinea-Bissau.

They defeated Cameroon 2-0 in the round of 16 and also Knockout Angola 1-0 in the quarter-finals on February 2, 2024.

This means that so far, the Super Eagles have scored 6 goals and conceded only one goal in five games. This also means that the Eagles have the best defense in the tournament currently but are not so prolific in terms of scoring goals.

Ahead of the Super Eagles’ semi-final clash with South Africa on February 7, coach Jose Peseiro stressed that the absence of Kelechi Iheanacho and Joe Aribo in his starting lineup have limited the creativity of the team.

“Once again we played without conceding, and scored a goal, but I would have liked more. The team could have created more opportunities,” coach Jose Peseiro said after Nigeria’s 1-0 win over Angola.

“We are a quality team, Angola was very good, but we had more luck. I remain satisfied with my players but want us to be more efficient.”

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