Alex Iwobi has revealed how a difficult start at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations forced former head coach, Jose Peseiro to change formation.
The West Africans started the competition on a not too impressive note, rallying to hold Equatorial Guinea to a 1-1 draw.
Peseiro then switched to a defensive 3-5-2 formation with the Super Eagles claiming a hard-fought 1-0 victory over hosts Cote in their second group game.
The Portuguese stuck to the formation with the Super Eagles going all the way to the final before losing 2-1 to Cote d’Ivoire.
“We thought it was a lucky escape. [After that] the manager’s gone a bit defensive, put five at the back, and the next game’s against the host nation who just won,” Iwobi told Fulham FC.
“Confidence is high thinking ‘yeah this formation sticks, it’ll work.’ Then we win our next game, go through to the next round and everyone’s on high thinking ‘ok there’s a chance we can do something here.’
“We got to the Final, though we could beat the host nation again, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Why Peseiro changed to defensive formation at AFCON 2023 — Iwobi
