Cracks are beginning to appear in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria over the behaviour of new coach Jose Peseiro to his Nigerian assistants, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Peseiro was appointed head coach of the Super Eagles and came with three of his assistants which includes an assistant coach (Asacio Santos) fitness coach (Maykel Moreira) and a video analyst (Hugo Victor) who also doubles as his son.
Prior to his appointment, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appointed three Nigerian coaches (Finidi George, Salisu Yusuf, Usman Abdallah) to work with him as assistants including a goalkeeper trainer in Ike Shorunmu and a video analyst in Eboboritse Uwejamomere.
However so far there has been zero synergy between the Portuguese coach and his Nigerian assistants. He only speaks and work with the three coaches who came with him. A situation which has come as a surprise to some backroom staff.
We gathered it started prior to the 1-2 friendly loss to Mexico in his first game in charge as he worked only with his Portuguese assistants. Same was extended to the day of the match in particular during the half time break.
” It started from training and we all thought it was normal as he is yet to get to know us and the people he came with are already familiar with the drills. We watched the first two sessions as onlookers and pick balls like ball boys’,a member of the back room staff told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
” On the day of the match, he sat close to his three assistants and constantly communicated with them in Portuguese. At half time he took three of them into one of the dressing rooms in the stadium leaving us with the players. After their meeting he came back and address the players with instructions to change formation for the second half. We were just looking”, he further said.
” Even his son whose job as a video analyst means he should be in the background get involved more than the rest Nigerian coaches. We recently had a gym session and it was his son and the fitness coach who handled it. Maybe it will get better but for now we don’t have any synergy with him”, he concluded.
