Nigeria international Alex Iwobi has lamented the bumpy pitches the Super Eagles play on during home games, saying it has negatively affected the team, Sports Extra reports. The 26‑year‑old blamed poor surfaces for the side’s subpar performances on home soil.
“I don’t know if we are going to have a nice pitch to play,” Iwobi said in an interview with The Beautiful Game podcast. “Obviously, we got a new coach and we played Sierra Leone and we beat them 2‑1 in a very difficult game, then we played São Tomé and Príncipe and won 10‑0 because we played on a great pitch. A lot of us play in Europe now and we play on great pitches where it is easy to manipulate the ball around and play freely. If we had that in Nigeria, it would be difficult to beat us, and I am confident to say that not many teams can beat us.”
He added that the lack of a consistent, high‑quality venue hampers the team’s potential. “To start with, we don’t have a good pitch because if we had one I feel we would be unstoppable. That is one thing about Nigeria—I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes—but we could play in Asaba, Lagos or Abuja. Everyone wants to see the Eagles play, and Nigeria is a very big nation, but it would be nice to have just one base where we know the pitch, the hotel, and the food. It just makes everything easier.”
Despite the challenges, Iwobi remains optimistic about the squad’s future. “Our team is still young and we still have a lot to learn, and even as a team we are still learning about ourselves,” he said. “One thing I can promise Nigerian fans is that the talent is still there; only God knows where we will be in the next few years, so they just need to be patient with us because we are trying.”
Coach José Peseiro boasts a star‑studded squad with an average age of 25, featuring Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon, Joe Aribo and Wilfred Ndidi among others. Yet the Eagles failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and were beaten by lowly Guinea‑Bissau at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja last Friday in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
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