Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro,has given his squad a pat on the back despite what has been dubbed in some quarters as unimpressive draw against Equatorial Guinea in the AFCON opener Sunday. The Portuguese coach believes his team did well and fingered unfriendly weather condition they had had to play under.
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.
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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. Some fans who reacted to Eagles outing on the first day said “it is there way. They will qualify for the next round no doubt but they will give you hypertension first” said a sports fan who simply identified himself as Godwin immediately after the match which saw Osimhen deliver one of his killer strikes to hand Nigeria the equaliser.
