Former Nigeria’s captains, Christian Chukwu and Sylvanus Okpala, believe Coach Jose Peseiro’s decision to take the Super Eagles to Abu Dhabi, UAE, ahead of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire will show how competent the Portuguese gaffer is.
Peseiro and his men will start their preparations for the African Cup of Nations in UAE, a country outside Africa, just like so many other countries have done. But Ghana, who initially picked South Africa for their final training camp, have cancelled the idea, and will now train in Kumasi, which is close to Cote d’Ivoire.
Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Chukwu, who led Nigeria to the same competition in Tunisia 2004, said the whole idea of Peseiro camping the team in UAE would have either a negative or positive effect on the acclimatisation of the Super Eagles for the championship beginning on January 13, 2024.
“There is nothing I will say now that will change the decision made by Peseiro to camp the Eagles in UAE for an African championship. As the head of the Eagles, the coach should be able to know if the players will adopt and acclamatise well in a country outside Africa.
“But I don’t understand why Abu Dhabi should be a place to stage a pre-AFCON championship when there are other African countries close to Cote d’Ivoire that would help the players adopt to the hosts’ climate.
“As I said before, Peseiro is the head of the Eagles… he knows the best for the team. My anger at this point is that he keeps neglecting home-based players and coaching the Nigeria team from his base overseas without living in Nigeria,” he said.
On his part, Okpala, who won the competition as a player in 1980 and was assistant coach to the late Stephen Keshi when the Eagles won it again in 2013, said Peseiro’ decision to camp the Eagles in Cote d Ivoire should not be the issue, adding that the coach’s credibility as a coach should be assessed after the championship.
“People should not castigate Peseiro for camping the Eagles in UAE. He is in a better place to know if the Eagles will acclamatise well enough in UAE. If the coach fails to deliver at the AFCON, then that is when he should be blamed for whatever decisions he took at the championship.”
The Super Eagles camp will begin the pre-AFCON training in UAE on January 2.
While there, they will play two friendly gams against Burkina Faso and DR Congo.
