Sports
‘S’Eagles Assistant Coaches Not Ball boys To Peseiro’
Super Eagles goalkeepers’ trainer, Ike Shorunmu, has dismissed suggestions that the national team’s Head Coach, Jose Peseiro, ignores the assistant coaches employed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to work with him, and instead, subjects the local coaches to ball boys. Peseiro has also been accused of only listening to the coaches he brought with him to the job.
However, Shorunmu, who is one of the Nigerian assistants, has dismissed the claims. Rather, he said the Eagles’ technical crew have had a good working relationship with Peseiro since he took charge of the team, noting that the ‘false information’ that the manager neglected his Nigerian assistants during the recent tour of the United States was fabricated by people who want to cause confusion in the team.
“Before every game, the Eagles technical crew has meetings with Peseiro to spell out our duties during training with the players. Every process is cordial and well figured out before any training session.
“I heard the claim while in America when a friend called me that we were used like ball boys during training sessions and I told him it is a lie. Everybody has his job on the pitch because our objective is to build a quality team,” he said.
Shorunmu revealed that the team has been working day and night to ensure the players are in shape for victory over Sierra Leone when they meet today in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
He also disclosed that he has been working on goalkeeper Francis Uzoho to build his confidence for the game after the criticism he received following Nigeria’s inability to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
“The goalkeepers currently in the Super Eagles camp are good. But for Uzoho, I need to keep speaking and advising him to forget the mistakes in the World Cup qualifier against Ghana and be more focused on the future.
“He needs encourage-ment to be confident on the goalpost. I have told him that every keeper makes mistakes and learns from them to grow better in their careers.”
The former Enyimba of Aba goalkeepers’ trainer also said Super Eagles players and technical crew were not under pressure going into the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Leone Stars.
“Every job comes with pressure, but at this point, the entire team is not under pressure ahead of the AFCON game. After not qualifying for the World Cup and losing the two friendly games, it is normal for people to be apprehensive.
“The Eagles will come out strong in their next games. Building a formidable squad to win games for Nigeria is the focus of the new Super Eagles technical Crew.”
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.