Coach Jose Peseiro has questioned the refereeing after the Super Eagles lost their second straight game under his charge.
The Super Eagles fell 1-0 to World Cup-bound Ecuador early Friday in New Jersey after they lost 2-1 to Mexico in an earlier friendly also in the United States of America.
Ecuador stunned Nigeria with a third minute goal through Pervis Estupinan after Chidozie Awaziem and Sani Faisal poorly defended a free kick from a promising distance.
The Eagles chased the game in the second half, but they could not restore parity despite carving out some good chances.
Peseiro said after the match that his team ought to have been awarded a penalty in the 13th minute, when striker Terem Moffi was felled inside the box by the Ecuador goalkeeper.
“Of course, I don’t want to speak about the referee, but at least one penalty (should have been awarded to Super Eagles),” Peseiro claimed in a post-match interview.
Ecuador leads . A very early goal by Estupian Tenoro. pic.twitter.com/MdKXxZKhYf
— Oma Akatugba (@omaakatugba) June 3, 2022
“No VAR but in the start of the show, there was a clear penalty. The goalkeeper touched the foot of our striker.
“I don’t know but I was told we had another penalty also, but the referee didn’t give it to us. But it is okay, anybody can commit mistakes. Even the players can make mistakes also.”
He added, “Today in the first half we didn’t well, but in the last 25 minutes. Only in the first 50 minutes we didn’t play like we should but they commanded the match after 50 minutes.
“The second half much better, but it is not easy to put pressure on opponents for 90 minutes. Today, we played better than against Mexico.
“I hope we will take this to our AFCON match against Sierra Leone.”
Nigeria welcome the Leone Stars to Abuja on June 9 to kick start their 2023 AFCON qualifying campaign.
