Bright Osayi-Samuel, a defender for the Super Eagles, has begged with supporters not to lose up on the squad ahead of the team’s crucial second leg after Nigeria’s heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Guinea-Bissau in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match played at the Moshood Abiola Stadium on Friday.
The Super Eagles were defeated 0-1 by Guinea striker Mama Balde in the 29th minute, and the Wild Dogs now lead Group A with seven points.
The three-time African champions began their pursuit for a spot in Ivory Coast in June 2022, defeating Sierra Leone 2-1 at home before thrashing Sao Tome and Principe 10-0 in Morocco.
But Friday’s loss to the Djurtus was a new low for Nigeria and Jose Peseiro, who hasn’t exactly impressed since taking over as coach of the Eagles in May of last year.
The 25-year-old defender made his debut in November 2022 when Nigeria lost 4-0 to Portugal in a friendly. He played 90 minutes at right-back and was named the Eagles’ best player of the night after a strong showing. The defender has been impressive for his Turkish club Fenerbahçe.
The Eagles played the Djurtus in the second game of a doubleheader on Monday at the Stadium 24 de Setembro in Bissau after flying out to Guinea-Bissau on Sunday (today).
Nonetheless, the Okija-born defender is confident that the players would perform admirably and support the Eagles to win the Match.
Osayi-Samuel said to Sports News Agency, “Nigerians should keep believing in us. We had so many chances but did not take them. I think if we put up the same effort and convert our chances we can win the game.”
“The team is a fairly youthful group with good players, and I believe it was just recently that I participated in the AFCON qualifiers with the team that we developed such a strong bond.
Hence, if we can maintain our teamwork and chemistry, we will establish the groundwork for how fantastic we can be and begin to demonstrate that to other nations.
By creating scoring opportunities, he said the squad performed admirably and noted that it was a bad day for the eagles.
In the game, we had plenty of scoring chances that we missed. We could have continued to play for another hour and not scored. Jose Peseiro claims.
“This occurs in sports, but I’m disappointed that my team lost despite their best efforts. We had a poor day, but Guinea Bissau had excellent fortune.
“This occurs in football, we could have scored up to five goals in the game, but we were only able to score one.
Nigeria, who now leads Group A with six points, will strive for victory.
Baciro Cande, the head coach of Guinea-Bissau, has vowed to maintain the team’s focus before the second leg match on Monday in Bissau (today).
“I will maintain the team’s focus before the second leg, and we’ll decide what approach to take for the following match.
“We have another game against the Eagles, so I really can’t talk about the plan we used in today’s (Friday) encounter.”
In a rematch on Monday at the Stadium 24 de Setembro in Bissau, Candé, who has impressively led the Djurtus to seven points, is convinced that the Djurtus will defeat Nigeria twice.
