Head coach of the senior national team of Guinea Paulo Duarte has omitted the Super Eagles of Nigeria from the three best teams in Africa ahead of the second round of games in the AFCON qualifiers, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Duarte’s side were beaten 2-1 by South Africa on Saturday in their opening game of the 2027 qualifiers, leaving them with all to do in Thursday’s game against Kenya.
While reacting to the defeat which generated a negative reaction from supporters of his team and the media, the Portugese coach who is well known in Africa defended the defeat by listing South Africa among the best three teams in Africa.
Surprisingly he didn’t mention the senior national team of Nigeria. “For me, the best three teams in Africa are Morocco, Senegal and South Africa”, the coach said.
His statement is coming on the back of claims by the head coach of Nigeria Eric Chelle, who said his team is among the best in Africa before their 2-1 win over Madagascar in their opening game.
“For me, this is the best team in Africa. We are motivated. The first task is to give the signal to every country to know who Nigeria is. We have very good players, they understand everything. It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about the state of mind.
“I want my players to be aggressive on the pitch, to put in a lot of intensity. We have to be ambitious, forget what happened last year, and if we do that, we can hope to win every game.”
