During Friday’s 2023 AFCON qualifiers, the Super Eagles suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Guinea-Bissau, which the coach, Jose Peseiro, attributed to bad luck.

Despite dominating possession in the first 30 minutes of the game, the Super Eagles failed to score and Mama Balde’s goal in the first half secured Guinea-Bissau’s first-ever win against the Super Eagles.

Following the loss, the Super Eagles dropped to second place in Group A, while Guinea-Bissau climbed to the top with seven points.

Peseiro acknowledged that his team played better than Guinea-Bissau and deserved more, but the result didn’t reflect their performance.

“I think we played very well in the first 30 minutes but didn’t score,” Peseiro said in his post-match press conference. “It showed that our team is better than Guinea-Bissau. I can say bad luck was part of the reason we didn’t win.

“Some times 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.”

Despite the setback, Peseiro expressed confidence that the Eagles could win the reverse fixture and beat Guinea-Bissau 3-0 if they put up the same level of 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.”

He dismissed suggestions that he could be sacked, insisting that his team played better than the result showed, and it would be a joke to talk about sacking him.

“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.”

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