Mixed feelings for Jose Peseiro as he watched his Super Eagles crash to another defeat in the USA, following Thursday’s narrow 1-0 defeat to Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena.
Peseiro was critical of his team’s the performance and particularly in the first 15 minutes – Nigeria went behind as early as the third minute.
Pervis Estupinan’s header from a free kick caught the Nigerian defenders napping as they team fell behind in the same manner as in their earlier game against Mexico.
However, the game was cagey as the Eagles grew into it and created chances. They could have pulled level from the spot, but the Referee waved off a penalty appeal after Terem Moffi was clearly fouled by the goalkeeper.
Speaking in the post-match conference, Peseiro praised the overall improvement in the team as the game progressed, but rued the slow start which characterized the Super Eagles’ performance in both friendlies.
“Against Mexico we didn’t play good, but Today the last 25 or 30 minutes of the first half, I think we took control of he match,” the disappointed Nigeria coach opined.
“In the first 15 minutes of the game we didn’t do a good job; we didn’t play like we can. Because we have players who can control the match, move the ball and command the game but we didn’t do that in the first fifteen minutes, but after that we played very good in my opinion, the second half was much better.”
“But, it is not really that easy, sustaining the pressure for 90 minutes. And of course I don’t want to speak about the Refereeing, but we deserved at least a penalty.
“There was no VAR, but we saw replays in the Stadium that there was contact from the goalkeeper against our striker. If the Referee had awarded that and we converted, then it would have been a draw. But it is okay because anybody can make mistakes; I make mistakes, the players or Referee can make mistakes.”
“Today, I believe we played much better than we did against Mexico, and in the next match we will do better than we did Today. So, I hope that we will take our missed chances here today when we play our first official match.”
“We created more opportunities and organization in our play than we did before the Mexico game, which we only had two days to prepare for.”
