AFCON 2023: Jose Peseiro reacts to ‘tough’ semifinal victory over South Africa

By Saheed Afolabi

Nigeria head coach, Jose Peseiro has reacted to the tough victory against South Africa in the semifinal of the 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) in Bouake on Wednesday.

The Super Eagles had to seal their faith in the penalty shootout after playing 1-1 in regulation time, paving way for the penalty saves of goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali to qualify Nigeria to their first Afcon final after 11 years.

On the back of it, Peseiro said it wasn’t an easy task defeating the Bafana Bafana as he believes Nigeria were deserving of their victory and progression to the AFCON final despite achieving it through the hard way.

“Beating a well-organised team like South Africa isn’t an easy task. They caused us a lot of problems, so the Super Eagles deserve to progress after achieving this feat.” Peseiro said at the post match presser.

“It was a very good victory against a good team. The players deserve to be in the finals, even though they had to achieve that the hard way.”

The tactician further congratulated the South Africa coach, Hugo Broos for putting together a good team at the Africa showpiece.

“I think it was very difficult to beat them. Huge congratulations to Hugo Broos, who put this team together. They played well.”

The Super Eagles will challenge Ivory Coast for the trophy in the AFCON final at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Ebimpe at the outskirts of Abidjan on Sunday, February 11.