Baciro Cande: Guinea Bissau coach applauds Nigeria quality after AFCON 2023 exit

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Head coach of Guinea Bissau, Baciro Cande has heaped praises on the talents and exceptional qualities in Nigeria’s senior men’s national team following a 1-0 triumph over their fellow West Africans in Abidjan.

The Guineans lost all three group games to Cote D’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria as Super Eagles and the Central Africans reach the knockout stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Monday.

Despite the loss to the three-time African champions, Cande is happy with his team’s progress and ability to play a good game against one of the African giants in football.

“We played Nigeria which had a high level of players and high value in Africa and we were able to perform well as sometimes we had more attacks compared to Nigeria,” Cande said at the post-match press conference.

“This match should have been a draw but I would like to commend our players. It could have been worse for a young team. I think that the team is on a good path.

“Our objective was to win the match and we gave the best we can to get a positive outcome but unfortunately we were unable to get a good result.”

The Djurtus were unable to withstand the attack firepower of the Nigerians leading to an own goal from Opa Sangante which separated both sides.

“Honestly speaking Nigeria is a very great nation in football,” he continued. “In Africa, Nigeria is the second-best team. If you followed Nigeria’s progress, I think they could go very far in the tournament.

“The team we played against in the time past were different from the one they have now. Congratulations to the coach for that.”

Guinea Bissau bowed out of the tournament without a point and continued to search for their first-ever win at the Africa Cup of Nations.