By Onyekachi Chimezie
Super Eagles Head Coach Jose Peseiro has refuted the idea that the loss was caused by a quality decline in the defeat against Algeria on Tuesday night.
Despite the absence of the team’s key players owing to injuries, José Peseiro said Nigeria always had the talent to compete with Algeria.
Nigeria were without Sivasspor forward and country captain Ahmed Musa, main striker Victor Osimhen, Villarreal Winger Samuel Chukwueze and defender Leon Balogun of QPR because of injuries.
While defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and vice captain Williams Troost-Ekong withdrew from the squad due to injuries acquired while in training with the Eagles, severely depleting the quality of the group.
Speaking in a post match interview, Super Eagles chief coach, Jose Peseiro insisted that the players who were called up for the friendly had all it takes to beat Algeria.
“I think in camp they showed the quality of our players and our collective job also. I think we could’ve beaten Algeria,” he said.
Coach Peseiro acknowledged the quality of the opponent camp in a match in which the Super Eagles defended for the majority of the time after scoring the game’s first goal in the eighth minute while maintaining his satisfaction with his players’ performance.
“Of course it is a very difficult game because Algeria are a good side and the players tried to do what was asked of them in training,” he said while speaking on NFF TV.
Algeria showed character in front of their home crowd to overturn an early scare hence, recording a 2-1 victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria in Oran.
