By Uzor Odigbo
Super Eagles of Nigeria head coach, José Peseiro says his players deserve to be in Sunday’s final after they edged out South Africa in the first semifinal match of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
The Super Eagles won 4-2 on penalties after an entertaining 120 minutes of football ended 1-1 at the Stade de la Paix.
‘The players deserve to be in the finals, it’s a very good victory against a good team. I said it earlier that South Africa have the best of organization because they play together and they created more problems for us. It was very difficult to beat them,’ he said after the game.
The Portuguese stressed on the fact South Africa are stronger because of the cohesion between them and also credited Hugo Broos for organizing the squad.
‘I think it was very difficult to beat them. Huge congratulations to Hugo Broos, who put this team together. They played well.’
Nigeria will play in their eighth AFCON final, with only Egypt and Ghana (nine each) playing in more.
The Super Eagles have scored 13 penalty goals at the Africa Cup of Nations, only Ghana have scored more such goals in the competition’s history (14)
