'The referee did not favour us'- Simon blames officiating for Super Eagles loss to Algeria

Super Eagles forward Moses Simon has expressed his disappointment over Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Algeria. However, he believes that the result could have been better if the referee made the right calls.

Algeria entertained Nigeria in a packed Olympic Stadium in Oran. The two countries had met in recent times, but the Desert Foxes had gotten the better of Nigeria in the last three meetings.

It looked like that was about to change after Terem Moffi scored the opener for Nigeria in the 9th minute. Unfortunately for the three-time African champions, the North African rallied back through Youcef Atal and Riyad Mahrez from the spot.

Nigeria were decent in the first half, and they even scored a goal that was ruled out for offside. Even to some, the penalty that was awarded to Algeria was a farce.

“The game did not go as planned, but it’s part of the job, we learn every day,” Simon said as per Pooja Media.

“The referee made some wrong calls, but the coach told us to forget about it and play our game.

“We just need to motivate ourselves. We play for pride, we play for family, we play for ourselves, and of course, we play for Nigerian fans.

“We’ll just give ourselves a boost, and even though our efforts failed to bring results, we will keep working hard.

The result for Nigeria meant that Peseiro has lost three of the six games that he has led the Super Eagles.

Nonetheless, they would look to pick the positives and improve ahead of next year’s Nations Cup qualifiers.