Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro has hailed his players for their display that earned them a final spot in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations at the expense of South Africa on Wednesday.

The Super Eagles won 4-2 on penalties after an entertaining 120 minutes of football ended 1-1 at the Stade de la Paix. According to José Peseiro, his players deserved to be in the finals but had to achieve that the hard way.

“The players deserve to be in the finals, it’s a very good victory against a good team. I said it earlier that South Africa have the best of organization because they play together and they created more problems for us. It was very difficult to beat them,” he said after the game.as quoted by CAFOnline.

The Portuguese further credited Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos for assembling a good squad by saying: “I think it was very difficult to beat them. Huge congratulations to Hugo (Broos), who put this team together. They played well.”

The Super Eagles will now face hosts Ivory Coast, who beat DR Congo 1-0 in the other quarters clash, in the final.