Head coach Jose Peseiro has attributed the Super Eagles’ shock 1-0 loss to Guinea-Bissau in Friday’s 2023 AFCON qualifiers to bad luck.
A first-half goal from Mama Balde secured Guinea-Bissau a first-ever win against the Super Eagles, causing them to drop to second place while the Djurtus took the top spot in Group A with seven points.
Speaking in his post-match press conference Peseiro said, “I think we played very well in the first 30 minutes but didn’t score,”
“It showed that our team is better than Guinea-Bissau. I can say bad luck was part of the reason we didn’t win.
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“Sometimes the best teams can lose games this way, so everything went bad for us. We deserved much more because we created chances and pushed the opponent back and could have scored five, six goals it happens in football.“
The Portuguese however expressed confidence that the Eagles can win the reverse fixture as high as 3-0 based on their overall performance.
“If we put up same performance like we did today we can beat them 3-0 at their place because one team can’t always have good luck all the time.“
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And when asked if he will be surprised if he gets sacked following the loss to Guinea-Bissau, Peseiro replied:”I would be surprised if I’m sacked now. In today’s game in the first 30 minutes we created chances but the likes of Osimhen, Chukwueze and Ndidi could not score.
“But I believe my team played better than the results reflect so for me it’s a joke to talk about sacking me.”
Peseiro also expressed his frustration with the referee, citing his failure to give Mama Balde a red card for his rough tackle on Kevin Akpoguma in the second half.
The 62-year-old criticized the referee for not awarding a penalty after one of his players was roughly handled in the penalty box.
Peseiro also complained about the five minutes of added time given at the end of the game, as he believed it did not account for the time spent treating the injured Akpoguma.
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