AFCON 2023: My players won’t use weather as excuse not to perform — Peseiro

Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has stated that his players would not use the weather as an excuse not to perform well in this year’s AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire.

The Eagles have landed in Côte d’Ivoire ahead of the event, which begins on Saturday, January 13.

They had been on a one-week training session in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Following their arrival in Côte d’Ivoire on Wednesday, the players enjoyed a short practice to stretch out after a lengthy trip from Nigeria.

Speaking after the light walkout, Peseiro gave an update on the arrival dates for Kelechi Iheanacho and Terem Moffi.

The Portuguese also talked about his expectations for the tournament.

“We cannot give excuses about the weather, we need to put in our focus, adapt well and do our best ahead of the first match which is very important for us,” he said on NFF TV.

“After a long trip and due to CAF meetings, photos and video sessions for everybody we didn’t do tactical training, conditional training so we have tomorrow for practice.

“This is a hard tournament but we want to win, we want to put 100 percent focus and in the game against Equatorial Guinea we don’t make mistakes, we need to put 100 percent or more to win the first game which is important for us.

“Moffi will arrive on Sunday 14 because he will play on the 13 with Nice and Kelechi will arrive on the Saturday 13th.“

The Eagles will take on Equatorial Guinea in their opening game of the tournament in Group A.

Other teams they will face in Group A are hosts Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau.