Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro says the Super Eagles of Nigeria didn’t lose yesterday’s game due to the blunder by goalkeeper Francis Uzoho rather it was down to poor officiating.
Uzoho was beaten by a long range effort from Youcef Atal which ended as the winner in the 2-1 for the Desert Foxes. The Omonia Nicosia goal tender was badly positioned and misjudged the the flight of the ball despite the length it travelled before getting to him.
Reacting to the blunder, Peseiro said the goal wasn’t the decisive moment of the game rather it was the decision of the referee not to award a goal which would have put Nigeria 2-0 up that decided the game. The goal was ruled out for offside but replays showed it should have stood.
“Everybody makes mistake. Myself and the players can make mistake. We scored a goal that was disallowed,”he said.
“The penalty I could accept. He shoot the ball before Frank caught him. We must accept. There was no offside when we scored. It should have been 2-0 to us at that point”.
He said the main aim of the team still remains winning the next Africa Cup of Nations and he feels they are on track but more friendly matches is needed to help the team perfect some areas of concern.
“I’m sad with the result but we did well. We want to win the next AFCON. First, we must qualify and play quality friendly matches and have more camping”, he explained.
“We want to have a a solid team. We have a good team and we want to improve. Everybody must work together. Myself, my staff and the NFF . We can play at the highest level.”
