Troost-Ekong agrees Peseiro should have mixed things up in AFCON final, gives credit to CIV coach 

In an exclusive interview with CNN World Sport's Amanda Davies, monitored by allnigeriasoccer.com, Super Eagles assistant captain William Troost-Ekong has acknowledged that manager Jose Peseiro should have done things differently in Nigeria's 2-1 loss to Ivory Coast in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final. 

The PAOK star opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 38th minute but Franck Kessie brought the game back to parity with a header of his own before Sebastian Haller got the winning goal for the hosts with eight minutes of regulation time left. 

The Super Eagles were on the defensive yet again as Peseiro maintained the same formation and tactics that served him so well in the previous five games. 

Amanda noted that some criticisms have been leveled at Jose Peseiro for not mixing things up and being able to change things when it mattered most and Troost-Ekong agreed with her, stating that the Portuguese could have made some adjustments to the squad for the final but underlined that he backed the coach one hundred percent and gave him a massive compliment for getting the Super Eagles going after some difficult years.

Troost-Ekong went on to reveal that Peseiro gave the Super Eagles an identity in terms of playing style during the 2023 AFCON but the defensive solidity which was their strength in previous games became their weakness in the final. 

The central defender admitted that the Super Eagles played against Ivory Coast in the same way as they did in the group stage which was their undoing as the Elephants were better prepared after suffering a 1-0 loss on matchday two.

Troost-Ekong gave credit to Ivory Coast's interim coach Emerse Faé for setting up his team in a better formation. 

He concluded by saying the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations was the best of three AFCONs he has attended and winning the Best Player of the Tournament award would stay with him for the rest of his life. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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