Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi has opened up about the decision of the team’s coaches to deploy a defence-first strategy at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, Soccernet.ng reports.
One of the pre-tournament favourites, Nigeria had a relatively easy opening AFCON match against Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan.
However, the Equatoguineans kept the Super Eagles at bay for half an hour before netting the opener in the 36th minute through Iban Salvador.
Nigeria equalised two minutes later courtesy of a Victor Osimhen header, but the Super Eagles failed to find the winning goal, eventually settling for a 1-1 draw.
Iwobi confessed that the Nigerian contingent felt lucky to have avoided a defeat to Equatorial Guinea.
The Super Eagles were scheduled to face Cote d’Ivoire next, and with the Elephants beating Guinea-Bissau in the tournament opener, Nigeria’s head coach, Jose Peseiro, decided a more pragmatic approach was needed against the hosts.
Fulham midfielder Iwobi maintains that the draw with Equatorial Guinea prompted Peseiro to switch to a five-man defensive set-up against Cote d’Ivoire.
The 5-3-2 formation worked wonders as Nigeria defeated the Ivoirians and went all the way to the final, where they faced the Elephants for the second time. Nigeria lost that tie 2-1.
“We thought it was a lucky escape [against Equatorial Guinea],” Iwobi said, as per Fulham FC.
“[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.
“[After beating Cote d’Ivoire 1-0] 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 a high thinking, ‘ok there’s a chance we can do something here.’
“We got to the Final and thought we could beat the host nation again, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“It does help when you’re the host. The fans, you’re just seeing orange. So it does play a big part, although we don’t think it fazed us. We just couldn’t get out of our half with the ball.”
Iwobi has five goals and one assist in 23 Premier League games this term for Fulham.
