Seemingly not satisfied with the Super Eagles attacking firepower in the 2-1 loss to Mexico Saturday night, Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro is reportedly putting his strikers through their paces with attention squarely on accented on close control, space management and clinical finishing.
The Super Eagles will file out against Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison tomorrow’s evening at 8pm ET (1am on 3rd June in Nigeria) and NationSport gathered that Peseiro wants the forward line up ‘to strike the ball sweetly and cleanly as much as possible’ in order to bang in goals.
A rampant Mexican side were lucky to win a game of two halves at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas on Saturday, with the Eagles showing great spirit and creating a number of chances in the second half after settling down to the prestige friendly, following long-haul flights into the United States from across the world.
But following their arrival in New Jersey from Dallas on Sunday, three –time African champions Nigeria have stepped up preparations for their friendly match with Ecuador as well as next month’s AFCON 2023 qualifying matches against Sierra Leone and Mauritius.
Having divested themselves of procession and environmental issues (long-haul travels and time zone body reaction), the Eagles filed out for full training session at the Montclair State University pitch on Monday, with most of the players showing the usual enthusiasm, energy and sharpness.
Monday’s session was accented on close control, space management and clinical finishing as Peseiro supervised proceedings alongside his assistants
Only defender Olaoluwa Aina, who suffered a knock during the team’s first training session in Dallas, and midfielder Innocent Bonke, who copped a knock in Saturday’s game against the Mexicans, stayed out of the gruelling session to do light recovery training of their own.
In a related development, Peseiro said his crew was not losing focus on the AFCON 2023 qualifying games, with the Eagles due to take on the Leone Stars at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Thursday, 9th June before flying to Saint Pierre to take on Mauritius on Monday, 13th June.
<<The Nation>>