Coach of the Super Eagles, Jose Peseiro, has expressed sadness over the team’s inability to clinch victory at the CAF’s African Cup of Nations (AFCON), held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Sunday, February 11.
Peseiro expressed his disappointment during a press briefing on Tuesday, February 13, at the State House, Abuja, where he and other members of the national team were honoured by President Bola Tinubu for their performance at the AFCON tournament.
While expressing his sadness, Peseiro also expressed gratitude for the invitation to the State House and the recognition and gifts bestowed upon them by President Tinubu.
Despite the outcome, he commended the team’s effort at the tournament, stating that they had given their all.
He said, “First of all, I’ll like to say thank you to the President. I am 60 years old, and this is the first time a president has invited me to his house. It’s an honour and a source of pride for me that the President of the Republic of Nigeria invited me to come here. Thank you very much.
“About the final, if you ask me, I think we did a fantastic job, our team showed very good spirit and played well. My boys did 100 percent, same was true for my staff, and the NFF was the biggest for us. So you can find my staff and everybody, else. Thank you to the players.
“Of course I would have liked to bring the cup to the Nigerian people, I’m sad about that, but of course I’m happy because I think we did a fantastic job. In the final, I think we felt that atmosphere.”
Also speaking to journalists after the meeting with the president, the goalkeeper of the national team, Stanley Nwabali, said he will be returning to his South African club side, Chippa United, saying he has no reason to fear going back.
Nwabali was reportedly threatened on social media by some fanatic supporters of the South African national team, Bafana Bafana, for being instrumental to the ouster of their team at the semi-final stage, though he plays for a South African club.
Nwabali stopped two penalty kicks by Bafana Bafana players in the decider penalty stage, during the Nigerian-South African semi-final match at the Stade de la Paix, in Bouake.
Asked if he would be returning to Chippa United, Nwabali said: “I must go back to my club, but talking about the threat, this is football, you can’t threaten someone because they also won some other teams too. How about if those they beat decided to keep threatening your players? It doesn’t make sense. It’s football, I don’t think there’s anything attached to it. Maybe it was just someone writing on social media.
He said: “But it’s cool to me because I spoke to my chairman like three days ago, but he didn’t say anything like all that stuffs. So he felt like ‘no, it’s cool, you can come back. Definitely, I must go back to my club because they owe me.”
