THE TURF IS PART OF OUR PROBLEM, IWOBI

Super Eagles midfielder Alexander Iwobi opens up on the state of the playing surface at the designated pitches for the 2023 AFCON tournament.

Iwobi is an integral part of the Super Eagles squad that recently progressed to the 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) knockout stages.

And being one of the Super Eagles players who’s been to two different AFCONs, Iwobi revealed that sometimes, the coach has to change tactics because of the nature of the turf.

According to the Fulham FC playmaker, pitches in Africa isn’t the same with what is obtainable in the English Premier League. And reasons are mostly because it’s not always easy to maintain playing surfaces.

“It’s not easy to maintain a good pitch. For the first game (against Equatorial Guinea) we had a good pitch. But the stadium has been used, the grass has been used and it’s not going to stay the same,” the former Arsenal playmaker told journalist Osasu Obayiuwana.

Sometimes, we have to change our tactics, because we can’t play the pretty football we want to play.

“If it’s a problem for us, it’s a problem for the other teams… It’s different from the premierleague, where 90% of the pitches are well looked after,” he said.