Afcon 2023: Jose Peseiro blames poor officiating for Nigeria loss to Guinea Bissau

Nigeria head coach, Jose Peseiro has expressed his displeasure at the officiating of referee Kotey Alexander as his team succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at home in the hands of Guinea Bissau in their AFCON Qualifiers.

The Super Eagles conceded in the 29th minute with a goal from Mama Balde as the away side took the lead as the Nigerians made some efforts to get back into the game but the visitors held their nerves to claim the triumph.

Despite displeased by his team’s poor display, the former Venezuela coach feels the referee was biased for failing to give the Guinea Bissau player Mama Balde a red card for his injury-inflicting tackle on Kevin Akpoguma.

“I am not happy of course, I am sad like my team but the referee’s decisions didn’t help either,” Peseiro told media.

“Anywhere in the world that’s a red card challenge on Akpoguma but the referee ignored. He gave us five minutes of added time despite having injured Akpoguma treated on the pitch for more than three minutes.

“We had like two penalty claims but he did not even look into it. The players were roughly handled in the penalty box with deliberate target on Osimhen and the referee did not care to protect him.”

The defeat sees Nigeria drop to the second position in group A with one point behind Guinea Bissau and will travel to Morocco for the return leg.1