Peseiro performed fairly well, deserves second chance, says Ladipo

Posted : 03 March 2024

Rafiu Ladipo, the President General of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC), rated the performances of the erstwhile Super Eagles Coach, Jose Peseiro, as above average and believed he deserved a second chance.

Ladipo shared his opinion in an exclusive interview on the circumstances that led to the exit of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) silver medalist.

In a farewell message on his official social media handle, Peseiro thanked the NFF and other stakeholders for the opportunity to serve. The President General of NFSC stated that Peseiro had exceeded all expectations and targets given to him. Thus, giving him another chance would not be an entirely bad idea.

"Maybe his contract should have been renewed, which was not done, and now he is gone and moved on because he is no longer needed.

Now, we need to start looking for another coach better than Peseiro and not anyone who is not up to his standard. Whether we like it or not, he took us to the finals of the AFCON.

Peseiro was not given a chance at all, but he performed beyond expectations and reached the final against the host nation, Ivory Coast.

In clear terms, the approval for a new contract is between Peseiro and his employer and not us, but we are also major stakeholders," Ladipo said.

He further stated that after the expiration of Peseiro's contract, not much was heard about the discussion on whether his contract would be renewed or not.

"I think Peseiro should have approached the NFF hierarchy about the renewal of his contract because there were better coaches at AFCON who failed to go past the group stage. Also, there are some good coaches that failed to go past the knockout stage or the quarter-finals, but we managed to get to the final and played against the host.

I was not particularly focused on Nigeria winning the AFCON, knowing that the host nation is hostile towards us.

In my over 50 years of experience, I can remember during the 1993 World Cup qualifiers when Rashidi Yekini scored against the Ivorians, they beat us up, and we had to take refuge at the Nigerian embassy," he said.

Ladipo added, "Playing against a host nation like Ivory Coast is tough because of lots of intimidation and harassment.

Aside from this, the Ivorians are more patriotic than us; while they were in the stadium, they all wore replicas of their national team jersey, including their president, unlike our practice in Nigeria.

Also, in the final, the Super Eagles did not play up to their best because fatigue had set in, and they were tired.

Also, Peseiro made some technical errors. Going forward, we need to hold on to the present Super Eagles squad. They should be kept together because we have World Cup qualifiers ahead.

Nigeria needs to learn her lessons from what had happened in the past and ensure a formidable team ahead of the next match," he said.

Peseiro performed fairly well, deserves second chance, says Ladipo

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