Guinea-Bissau's Head Coach, Baciro Cande, has hailed his team's historic 1-0 win over Nigeria's Super Eagles in their 2023 AFCON qualifier at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja on Friday.
The coach attributed their victory to the resilience and determination of his team, also known as the Wild Dogs.
During the post-match press conference, Cande revealed that they did a thorough analysis of the Super Eagles players and how the coach usually set up his team, which helped them keep the Nigerian team quiet and get the desired result.
Cande said, “We did a thorough analysis of the Super Eagles players and how the coach usually sets up his team, and the boys did the rest by sticking to our game plan with resilience and determination. It paid off, with Balde scoring what proved to be the winner.
“For the second leg, we shall go back to plan how best to play Nigeria. Of course, we will be going for another victory. We still respect the Eagles despite our victory today (on Friday).”
Cande had earlier boasted that they were in Nigeria to avenge their defeat to the Super Eagles at AFCON 2021 in Cameroon, and beating Nigeria would stand out as one of the best moments of his coaching career.
Jorge confident
The Wild Dogs captain, Braima Nogueira Jorge, also spoke at the post-match conference, stating that football is not a respecter of big names or big countries, adding that they confronted the Nigerians as equal rivals.
Jorge further stated that it was a good win, and they were determined to return home and complete the job in the reverse fixture.
“Nigeria are blessed with talented players who are well known all over the world playing for top clubs,” Jorge noted.
“We scored a goal and defended well to frustrate Nigeria. It is a good win, and we want to return home to complete the job.”
The Wild Dogs currently top Group A of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers with seven points from three matches, one point ahead of Nigeria, who are second with six points. Sierra Leone are third with two points, while Sao Tome and Principe are at the bottom of the group with one point.
The two teams will meet again on Monday, March 27, 2023, at the Estadio 24 de Setembro in Bissau, where the Super Eagles will seek to avenge their home loss and claim the top spot in the group.
