WOW JOSE MOURINHO IS BORN IN NIGERIA
Yeah it's the famous Portuguese football coach, José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH– or José Mourinho(Mou for short). His arrival in England(to coach Chelsea) shook the entire nation and ruffled the leading teams to their very core and catapulted Chelsea into the very top tier of the EPL. It was in England he was dubbed "The Special One" by the media, after Mou said it himself a walked the talk. He is one of the most decorated managers ever, with 2 Champions league trophies from two different teams amongst several others. He indeed is one of coaching legends in football.
STYLE
He made popular a style, the British media called, "parking the bus". This is his penchant for playing 5 defenders at the back, the ones at both extremes being wing-backs. It's a style that greatly limits the opposition from scoring and it's low on creativity in the midfield. It's a very compact low-block system that is difficult to break, they are very comfortable even when they don't have much possession, then they hit you with dangerous counters when they get the ball.
Travel over Atlantic ocean and land in the continent of Africa and in the nation of Nigeria and you will discover José and this time it is José Peseiro, José Mourinho's country man and friend.
Nigeria sought for a new coach in 2023 and the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) interviewed some coaches as usual, then they also went to Jose Mourinho for consultation and he recommended Peseiro. You don't joke with what a legend recommends. So right away, José Peseiro was picked as the new coach of the Super Eagles( the nickname of the Nigerian team). It has been a fairly even ride with him, though his very attack heavy(and creatively poor) 4-4-2 formation has been a serious bother for Nigerians, especially with a faltering goalkeeper he stuck with, as it often leaves the team vulnerable to counter attacks.
MOU IS BORN
Enter the ongoing Nations cup(AFCON) he ditched the faltering goalkeeper as pressure mounted on him by fans and especially the NFF and he brought in competent one. He also ditched his 4-4-2 formation after his first match which was a one-all draw and he enthroned the Mourinho system– call it Mourinho being born in Nigeria! Suddenly Nigeria became impermeable to goals and they've never scored beyond one goal themselves in each match. This team has defeated all comers with this sturdy defensive structure and they are now in the final of the AFCON– conceding only one goal since the Mou system was enthroned( and this was only in the semi-final against a very dangerous South African side). Indeed the Mou style is alive and well in this huge West African country of Nigeria.
Nigerians can be very emotional with analysis, such that any talk that questions a winning coach is almost considered as treason.🙂 However, it's my tendency to eschew sentiments and speak truth.
FACT CHECK
The truth is that this coach has drifted away from the true Nigerian culture and style of football. He uses the Mourinho system and little wonder Mourinho was the one who recommended him to the NFF, then led by Mr. Pinnick Amaju. The Mou style is not one for very creative midfielders or artful things, so I'm no longer surprised a top class creative midfielder like Kelechi Nwakali(of Chaves,Portugal) was not picked for this tournament.
It should be noted that Peseiro tried this new formation for the first time, in the final pre-AFCON friendly and he got his fingers burnt with a defeat to Guinea.
Therefore, I consider it an absolutely bold move to begin implementing this Mou-system in a must-win second match of this tournament. To me this has spectacularly transformed the team at least, AS FAR AS RESULTS ARE CONCERNED
The truth is, the 4-4-2 he had been playing, is not his preference. This Mou-style is it, he knows it like he knows the back of his hands and that's how he coached in South America before NFF employed him.
The moment I saw this new style and how the players interpreted it so well, I knew that it would be difficult for any African team to handle it. It's easier for clubsides to break through this system than national teams because, club coaches have more coaching time with the players.
So yes, this isn't the Nigerian natural system of play, but it's working fine and it would always work wonders in a national team set-up, if the coach has mastery of it, like Peseiro has. It can be recalled that in the last World cup, this is thesame system Mr. Rohr(then Nigerian coach) employed and the Super Eagles were tough to beat, till Rohr made mistakes with substitutions versus Argentina.
Well Nigeria is stuck with this coach, at least for now.🤷♀️
At least we can expect and enjoy victories from him, plus it's true that the team keeps growing in understanding of this new system with every passing game. Now we are witnessing more link up play and movement all over the pitch.
Much sought after striker Victor Osimhen seems to be the sacrificial lamb for this new system, as the absence of a real creative presence in the middle isolates him and it's impressive how he has taken it on the chin and worked harder than usual to cover up that loophole. But like I said in the previous paragraph, the team keeps getting better in this system and Osimhen is no longer as isolated as in the second and third games.
So credit to the coach for implementing a strategy he's good at and quite frankly even the best European nations will find it hard to crack this strategy.
Well as for the bigger picture of enthroning Nigeria's natural footballing style; well over to the NFF if they can rid themselves of the corruption that has been their bane for donkey years now.
For me I'd say, let's enjoy this version, it attracts victories, plus little by little we are seeing more creativity.
The AFCON final is upon us come Sunday, 11th February– it's the host nation( Ivory Coast) versus the 'Mourinho team'. It is widely believed the latter will be victorious, especially as the host nation haven't showed great consistency overall.
It's time for 'Mourinho' to win a title on African soil.😉
Cheers