International Football
VIDEO: Again, Super Eagles fail to beat Mexico after five encounters…Peseiro loses debut match
Nigeria’s latest man on the saddle, Coach José Peseiro has become the first Super Eagles’ coach to lose a debut gmae since Amodu Shuaibu’s team fell 0-1 to England at the iconic Wembley Stadium 28 years ago.
Super Eagles early the Sunday morning (Nigerian time) lost 2-1 to Mexico at the at the iconic AT&T Stadium in Dallas to Mexico making Peseiro the third coach of Nigeria to lose a debut in 42 years. The other coach apart from Shuaibu to lose a debut is Clemens Westerhof’ whose team lost an August 27, 1989 World Cup qualifying match to Cameroon in Yaoundé.
For the Super Eagles; Mexico’s El Tri have become their albatross. They have failed to beat the team after six encounters. The worse being the 4-0 bashing of last year.
Missing so many first-team players including Captain Ahmed Musa and being the first time they were coming together for any session since the disappointment of 2022 FIFA World Cup ticket miss, the three –time African champions were projected to be sitting ducks for the Mexicans to roast in the State of Texas – a jurisdiction that shares a border with Mexico and where Mexico’s lingua franca, Spanish is taught in schools as a second language.
The El Tri, dainty, cohesive, coherent and egged on by over 52,000 roaring spectators in the largest covered arena in the world, bossed the opening minutes with their crisp passes, awesome positional play and nonchalant telepathy. In this pulsating period, they were able to shoot ahead after 13 minutes when Santiago Gimenez found himself all alone with goalkeeper Francis Uzoho and steered home despite Uzoho’s valiant efforts to keep the ball away.
The arena, which also has the world’s largest hung-scoreboard (said to be bigger than a basketball court), rocked to its foundation after this, and the Eagles had to summon courage, sense of mission and ambition not to collapse entirely under pressure.
Onslaught after onslaught led to several opportunities for the El Tri, but Uzoho and the Nigeria rearguard, with Semi Ajayi, William Ekong and Chidozie Awaziem kept the wolves off the door.
Luis Francisco Romo, Captain Andres Guardado, Rodolfo Pizzaro, Jesus Gallardo, Roberto Alvarado and Gimenez sought to frisk the Nigeria defence now and again, but they could not breach the wall again.
Peseiro opted for a flexible and interesting 3-5-2 formation, with Moses Simon and Calvin Bassey deployed as wing backs, and Joe Aribo, Alex Iwobi and Innocent Bonke serving in midfield. Cyriel Dessers and Terem Moffi searched for the goals.
It was to the consternation of the overwhelming Mexican support and bench, led by Coach Gerardo Martino, when Nigeria equalized in the 54th minute, after Calvin Bassey’s superb in-swinger was nodded home by Dessers, with goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota scrambling in vain.
However, the Eagles, while searching for a winner, conceded an unfortuitous own goal in the 56th minute, as Ekong swept into his own while trying to clear the ball from danger.
Home –based professionals Sani Faisal, Victor Mbaoma, Chiamaka Madu and Ishaq Kayode who came in after the first 45 minutes, also gave good account of themselves.
“I am happy with what we put up out there. It was the first time after the disappointment of the World Cup playoff and you can say this is a makeshift team, while Mexico had their full-strength squad out there. I like what I saw today and I have confidence that we have appointed the right coach that can restore the glory of the Super Eagles and make them start winning once more,” President of the NFF Amaju Pinnick, said after the game.
Nigeria had eight shots on goal compared to Mexico’s 12, while Uzoho made four saves as against Cota’s one.
The Eagles are scheduled to fly to New Jersey this Sunday morning, ahead of Thursday’s clash with Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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