Super Eagles Coach Jose Peseiro Hails His Players After 1-1 Draw

Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro, believes that his team did well against lowly-rated Equatorial Guinea despite the unfriendly weather conditions they played under on Sunday, January 14.

On the said date, Jose Peseiro and his boys opened their 2023 AFCON campaign at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium against Equatoria Guinea which they expected to beat comfortably based on the caliber of players at the Eagles’ disposal.

Unfortunately for the Super Eagles, they had to come from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Equatoria Guinea.

The game took place at 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Nigerian time) under very hot weather. The weather was so hot that the referee had to give the players a “cooling break” in the second half.

After the disappointing draw, coach Jose Peseiro said: “Playing at 2 pm isn’t easy, so the temperature and humidity were not good, but our players managed it very well. It wasn’t easy playing in these conditions.”

Aside from the weather conditions that probably cost the Super Eagles the maximum three points, the team also failed to take advantage of their numerous goalscoring opportunities.

For instance, Victor Osimhen had more than one goalscoring opportunity but he failed to score. Also, Zaidu Sanusi missed a glorious chance because he was impatient in the box.

“We did everything to win, we created many and clear opportunities, and we simply deserved to win,” Jose Peseiro said.

No thanks to the draw, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea trail Ivory Coast in Group A following the hosts’ 2-0 victory against Guinea-Bissau in their opening encounter on Saturday. Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria both have one point, while the hosts lead the group with three points.

As it stands, the Super Eagles of Nigeria are condemned to beat Ivory Coast in their second Group A game on Thursday, January 18.

A win for Nigeria will get their campaign back on track while a draw will require them to win their last group game against Guinea-Bissau next Monday to be confident of making it to the round of 16.