Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has blamed his side’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to Portugal on a poor first half display.
The three-time African champions were comprehensively outplayed and beaten by their hosts in Lisbon last night as the 2016 European champions bade farewell to their fans on the way to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
Bruno Fernandes scored twice in the first half, with Gonzalo Ramos and Joao Mario adding late goals after the break, while Emmanuel Dennis missed a penalty for the Super Eagles.
“I’m sad, 4-0 is too much. We didn’t start the first half well. We didn’t show good organisation, we didn’t press the opponents,” Peseiro said in his post-match interview with the Nigeria Football Federation media team.
“It’s true that the opponents had too much quality and they gave us some problems. The first half wasn’t a good half for us.”
The Portuguese however believes his side stepped up in the second half before conceding those late goals.
“The second half was much better and that’s the level I want to see our team playing. Of course we need time to train together to reach a certain level,” he added.
“I think in the second half we showed that we can do much better against the big teams.”
Nigeria had a big chance to score and reduce the deficit when they were awarded a penalty. But Emmanuel Dennis, who fought off Paul Onuachu and William Troost-Ekong to take the spot kick, missed.
Portugal then scored two more goals in the final eight minutes of the match to turn the defeat into an embarrassment.
Peseiro however refused to blame the Nottingham Forest forward for the penalty miss, vowing to ‘protect’ his players.
“Of course it could have been 2-1 but we missed the penalty and then conceded two goals,” the former Venezuela head coach explained.
“It’s very sad but I’m not blaming my players. They tried to do their best and they tried to fight for us.
“That moment (the penalty miss) was our best chance to rescue the game. If we made it 2-1, we could have tried to draw the game.
“I think we lost our balance that moment.
“In my team I don’t single out one player for mistakes. Anyone could have missed a penalty. Okay, Dennis missed the penalty; he can train more and score the next one. We need to defend our players.
“Which player has never missed a penalty in the world? Any player can miss a penalty. It was Dennis today, OK he has my protection.”
Peseiro, who also handled Saudi Arabia in the past, believes the Super Eagles can build on the second half performance to achieve their targets, including winning the next Africa Cup of Nations in 2024.
He said: “In the second half we attacked more and created more opportunities. We put more pressure and managed the ball better in the second half.
“I think we can improve, we must improve. We want to win the next AFCON.”
