Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro says his team will defend as a unit, while being clinical in front of goal, when they face the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on Saturday.
“I don’t want to concede goals tomorrow (Saturday), I want to score at least one. If we do this, we will beat Cameroon,” Peseiro said during a pre-match press conference ahead of the clash.
The Portuguese tactician’s switch to a more defensive 3-4-3 formation in the group stage resulted in slim wins against Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau and a draw against eventual group A leaders Equatorial Guinea.
Peseiro said the most important thing at this stage is to win and advance to the quarter-finals stage, while expressing optimism that Victor Osimhen will start firing again from the knock out stages.
“For our next match (Cameroon), Osimhen will score; he’s important for the team. He’s the top scorer, but this is a different tournament and tough competition.
“He deserves to reach the top position because against Equatorial Guinea, he created so many chances and he scored.
“Did Equatorial Guinea beat us? No, we shared the points, and I know we will beat them next time because it’s not easy in this competition,” he said.
The Portuguese dispelled rumours on a rift with Leicester City forward, Kelechi Iheanacho, who is yet to feature in the tournament, due to earlier injury.
He hinted on the forward seeing some minutes in the crucial clash with Cameroon.
“There are a lot of negative stories out there. If there was something between us, Kelechi will not be here. I will not invite him.
“He was injured before the competition and was not with us in Abu Dhabi. He arrived before our first game and started work the following day.
“We have to work with our doctors on his recovery process. We believe in Kelechi, he is going to play and score for us in this competition,” Peseiro said.
The game is slated for the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, at 9pm Nigerian time.
José Peseiro’s men will round-up up their preparations for the encounter with a training session at the Ecole Nationale de Police training pitch on Friday evening.
The last time both teams met was at the 2019 AFCON in Egypt where the Super Eagles came from behind to eliminate the Indomitable Lions 3-2.
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