South African coach, Hugo Broos has pinpointed the difference between the new Super Eagles coach, Finidi George’s style of play compared to Jose Peseiro.
Peseiro took Nigeria to the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations where they lost 2-1 to the host nation Ivory Coast.
Nigeria will go shoulder to shoulder with South Africa 2026 World Cup qualifying showdown in Uyo this week, having met at the Nations Cup a few months ago.
South Africa almost caused an upset at the Nations Cup, with the Super Eagles requiring a penalty shootout to beat them in the semifinals of the tournament.
Broos blasted the Portuguese coach for setting up his team to play negative football at the tournament and noted that Finidi is an offensive coach.
Broos had the opportunity to watch Finidi’s style of play when the Super Eagles played some international friendly games against Ghana and Mali in Morocco in March.
“We will try to shock them again. It’s a little bit different than the AFCON team,” he told reporters.
“With Finidi George they have a coach who thinks more offensively. Peseiro, he was a little bit more defensive and I saw that certainly in the game against us, he was always telling the team to go back.
“Also in the final they didn’t really play offensively, they just tried to be good defensively and then hoping on a counterattack or a situation in front of the goal where they could score.
“I saw two games against Mali and Ghana, it’s different. They take a little bit more initiative. It’s not the team anymore who went back and waited.
“They also try to make pressure early in the game and close to the goal of the opponent, so we have to look for something now that we can shock them again like we did for the game in Ivory Coast.”
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