Super Eagles manager Jose Peseiro says he was happy with the performance of his players despite losing 2-0 to Guinea in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations warm-up friendly on Monday in Dubai.
Goals from Aguibou Camara and Facinet Conte in between a penalty miss from Moses Simon means Nigeria heads into their AFCON opener against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday on a rocky patch.
Regardless of the defeat, Peseiro saw some positives after experimenting with a 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 formation.
“It’s important to win of course. I prefer to win than lose but it’s not important because we tried to put a new system,” Peseiro said after the game.
“It’s the first time we played this way [3-4-3] formation] and I think like I told you the first half we played very well. It’s better to do the mistakes now. The second half was not good but not so bad also.
“I’m happy of course. I know what the players did until now. They worked hard. Some players tried. Even the players that entered yesterday played many minutes but you need to change them because the other players are tired.
“Good performance indeed from some players. [Alhassan] Yusuf is playing for the first time with our national team. Stanley [Nwabali] also, I am happy with everybody.”
Coach Paseiro’s thought after Guinea warm up game.#SoarSuperEagles #LetsDoitAgain pic.twitter.com/h5GccXFBQ0
— ???????? Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) January 9, 2024
The Super Eagles will depart Dubai for a stopover in Lagos before jetting off to Abidjan to tackle the Equatorial Guineans.
