AFCON 2023: 'Super Eagles Will Be Ready For Angola Battle' – Peseiro
Peseiro, has warned his players to keep level heads and manage the euphoria of their quarter-final qualification, as they countenance a potentially-tough quarterfinal clash with Angola’s Palancas Negras on Friday
Joy Kalu 
Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro has said his team is firmly focused on the quarter-final clash with the Palancas Negras of Angola.
The Super Eagles started preparations for the game on Monday after observing Sunday as rest day.
The training session took place at the Police College, Cocody, Abidjan.
Peseiro stated: "I am telling them that we are only in the last-8, that we still have some way to go, and that the farther we go, the tougher the opposition becomes. We have played four matches and won three, so we must keep level heads as we go forward.
"Our philosophy is that there are no small teams here at the Africa Cup. Every team qualified to be here, and every team in the knockout phase qualified from a group phase. Any team in the last-8 is good enough for the trophy. We believe we are good enough for the trophy, but we must continue working and putting out our best on match days.”
"We are looking forward to the game against Angola. Everyone has rested well after the game against Cameroon,” Peseiro told reporters after the training session.
“We have a few days left before the game, so we will be ready. We will prepare very well and I’m optimistic we will get a good result.
“We will take it game by game. Our target remains the same.”
The Super Eagles defeated the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon 2-0 last weekend to secure a place in the last eight.
Clashes between Nigeria and Angola at international level have been few and far between, but Nigeria has a couple of scores to settle with the southern African nation.
Angola edged Nigeria to reach the last round of the qualification series for the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy, but the return leg in Nigeria that the Eagles won 1-0 was under a cloud of tragedy as playmaker Samuel Okwaraji collapsed and died 13 minutes from the end on 12th August 1989. Several other football fans lost their lives in a stampede that ensued after the game. The first leg in Luanda ended 2-2.
Angola also famously stopped Nigeria from reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, when the Eagles followed a 0-1 loss in Luanda to draw 1-1 with the Negras in a sunny Sani Abacha Stadium in June 2005.
