Head coach of Guinea-Bissau, Baciro Cande, admits he was surprised at his team’s performance against Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
Guinea-Bissau ended Nigeria’s six-year unbeaten home run in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after recording a shock 1-0 victory over the three-time African champions.
The Super Eagles started the game on a front foot, but the Wild Dogs quickly settled in the game and executed their strategy perfectly.
And in the 30th minute the Djurtus shocked their hosts, as Mama Balde beat the offside trap, beautifully controlled Opa Sangante’s long ball and guided a shot between the legs of goalkeeper Francis Uzoho to make it 1-0.
All efforts to equalize from the home side were further thwarted by Guinea-Bissau’s resolute defending.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, said :
“This victory is for the Guinea-Bissau people, we respect all the Nigerian players, but big names don’t play football on the pitch.
“They (Eagles) tried to do everything to beat us and created many scoring chances, but we deserved to win,” Cande said.
On the result, Cande says, he’s amazed by the manner of the win.
“We are surprised, but the team trained very hard and they beat Nigeria, a big football country with good players. We feel good about this victory against Nigeria.”
Guinea Bissau will host the second leg on Monday, and Cande refused to comment on his strategy.
“I will keep the team in focus ahead of the return leg and we will see what is the best strategy to adopt for the next game.
“I can’t really speak about the strategy we deployed in today’s match because we have another game next week.” He concluded.
