Jose Peseiro: I am Feeling I Can Win the World Cup with Nigeria National Team

  

The Portuguese tactician Jose Peseiro excited at the quality of the players in the Nigerian national team after four games incharge.  

Peseiro has described the Super Eagles the ‘most talented’ team he has ever coached and said to give him the next four years to build a formidable team that can compete favourably anywhere in the world. "I am feeling I can win the world Cup with this team, I am feeling such positive vibes now."

Peseiro made the claim after seeing Nigeria record a 2-1 win over Sierra Leone followed by a 10-0 thrashing of Sao Tome and Principe in the opening two matches of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The Portuguese tactician has taken charge of four matches since he took over the reins last month, the first two ending in defeat to Mexico where Nigeria lost 2-1 before falling to Ecuador 1-0 in friendly matches in the United States.

Peseiro, who made a number of changes to the team that lost in America ahead of the Afcon qualifiers, believes the talents at his disposal make playing attacking football easy.

“Our style is attack because of the kind of players we have in the team,” Peseiro told our correspondence.

He went on: “I see them very well now in training and they are the most talented I have worked with in my career and I am not joking. I know if given time enough and support, I can build a team Nigerians will be proud of.

Nigeria lead Group A with six points followed by Guinea Bissau on four while Sierra Leone have one from their draw with the latter.

The Super Eagles' next assignment is in September against Guinea Bissau whom they will play home and away and Peseiro knows tougher tests will come.

“We expect the next few games to be tougher but we are confident in ourselves. The Ideas will make the players love to play for the team,” said the Portuguese coach.

Nigeria have looked organised at the back since Peseiro took over with their counter-pressing another aspect of their game that has changed given their quick ball recoveries in the matches against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome.

There is hope that the Portuguese will help Nigerians forget a poor first half of the year that saw them knocked out of the 2021 Afcon at the Round of 16 by Tunisia before missing out on a ticket to the World Cup to bitter rivals Ghana, all in a space of two months.