Why I won’t query Peseiro’s AFCON squad

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Sylvanus Okpala, says he won’t question Jose Peseiro’s choice of players for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Africa’s greatest football showpiece is set to take place between January 13 and February 11 in Ivory Coast.
Peseiro announced his squad for the competition last week, omitting OGC Nice striker Terem Moffi, Nathan Tella, Adebayo Adeleye and Kelechi Nwakali, while he named eight debutants in his team, as well as recalling duo Ahmed Musa and William Troost-Ekong, who were left out of the Eagles for over a year.
Speaking in an interview with Brila FM, Okpala who won the AFCON title in 1980 as a player and as a coach in 2013, said, “I don’t like to question a coach’s selection of players. It’s his discretion to pick whoever he wants to pick and leave out whoever he wants to.
“Every player has different characteristics, so he has to pick based on his strategy, the formation he wants to play.
“And you know, that’s how he has to pick the players. And that is why I don’t like to question the selection of coaches, who they have selected or who they have not selected. So, I just leave it to the coach. “I only wait for the day of the match to analyse how he is playing, whether it is going well or not, based on strategy and the formation.”
The Eagles, who won the tournament in 1980, 1994 and 2013, are hoping to win a fourth title in Ivory Coast and are in Group A alongside hosts Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
Their first game is against Equatorial Guinea January 14 at the Ebimpe Olympic Stadium, before a faceoff with Ivory Coast January 18. Their last group game is against Guinea Bissau January 22.