Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro believed tomorrow's semifinal clash with Angola won't be a walk in the park for the team despite being tagged the favourite for the title after defending champion Senegal and other top teams crashed out in earlier stages, Nigeriasoccernet.com writes.
Peseiro during the pre-match conference for the Friday's game which he attended alongside Alex Iwobi gave his view about the game, stating the strength of the opponent and that of the Super Eagles.
"This is one match, quarterfinals. The both teams want to reach the semifinal. It's going to be a tough match. Our team need commitment and dedication. No big name in Angola but they're doing very well. They have good capacity, they want to win but they don't want it more than us. We want to create opportunities and score.
"For tomorrow in my opinion, it's 50 percent for each team to win the match. We want to play the semifinal and the final. You can mention us as the favorite but each team have 50 percent chance and tomorrow, the game will start at 0-0.
Speaking ahead of the game, Fulham's midfielder, Alex Iwobi said: "We've watched their video and we're trying to see where we can explore their weaknesses.
"They scored a lot of goals as we can see in their last game and we have been defending very well also. Like the coach said, both teams want to make the semifinal but we'll give a good account of ourselves."
"We have to give a lot of respect to Angola because to get to this stage where we are is not easy. They scored a lot of goals but I'm confident in my team that we're going to withstand any kind of pressure. We've only conceded only one goal so we know what to do," Iwobi added.
Asked about Nwabili's readiness for the game, Jose Peseiro says:
"Today, we're going to take the final decision on Nwabili. We see the results and if he cannot play, Francis is confident and also we have Ojo."
Angola have scored a lot of goals in this tournament including 3 in their round of 16 game but Peseiro seems not to be bothered as he'll stick to his own tactics rather than changing it because of the opposition's strength.
"We will play our way. We respect opponents but I don't change my team, my model, my tactics because of a team. We respect opponents but we'll stick to our plans."
Nigeria will face Angola in the first quarterfinal of the 2023 African Cup of Nations at the Stade de Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Abidjan tomorrow by 6pm Nigerian time.
By Oluwayemi Omolagba