Jose Peseiro Admits Nigeria Suffered Against South Africa As He Gives Update On Zaidu Sanusi

Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro has stressed that his team suffered during their 2023 AFCON semi-final clash against South Africa on Wednesday, February 7.

During the game, Jose Peseiro watched helplessly as Bafana Bafana of South Africa put pressure on the Super Eagles for 45 minutes and had to rely on the confident goalkeeping of Stanley Nwabali.

In the second half, South Africa continued to threaten Nigeria’s defense and the Eagles struggled to create chances until after the 65th minute mark.

After the Super Eagles took the lead from the penalty spot in the 67th minute, they became more confident and started threatening the Bafana Bafana’s defense. But when the VAR canceled Victor Osimhen’s goal towards the end of the game and South Africa equalized via a spot-kick, the spirit of the Eagles broke, and had to defend deeper until the game ended.

Fortunately for Nigeria, the Super Eagles won the game via a penalty shootout and progressed to the 2023 AFCON final.

After the game, coach Jose Peseiro said: “Around 90 minutes, I see that our team suffered, we were shaken, we lost the balance.

“But during the break before the extra time, we put ourselves together and went into extra time with that confidence.”

Meanwhile, the coach has confirmed that Porto left-back, Zaidu Sanusi might not be available for the final of the tournament due to fitness issues.

Recall that Sanusi couldn’t play against South Africa due to fitness issues and was replaced by Fenerbahce’s Bright Osayi-Samuel.

“I don’t know if he (Sanusi) can recover, I hope he can recover for the next match but he’s out now because of injury. He didn’t do any practice these last few days,” Peseiro told reporters on Wednesday.

The Super Eagles will face the hosts of the 2023 AFCON, Ivory Coast, in the final of the tournament at 9 p.m. on Sunday, February 11.