Mourinho and Nigeria fans frustrated: Chelsea boss says red-carded Pepe not Portuguese as Super Eagles fans pelt players with water bottles

Frustration among Nigerian and Portuguese fans at the prospect of early elimination from the World Cup is building.

The Super Eagles team was pelted with water bottles by their travelling fans for “not trying hard” against the Iranians in their drab 0-0 draw in Curitiba.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has hit the headlines here for saying, Pepe who was sent off in that 4-0 thrashing by Germany is “not even Portuguese.”

Mourinho termed the footballing lesson at the hands of the Germans as “a difficult situation to accept”

The Chelsea manager who handled Pepe at Real Madrid put the blame squarely in the hands of the Portugal defender saying: “I think obviously the second goal is his fault.”

 “Maybe he doesn’t deserve a direct red card but because, in spite of not being a clear aggression, there is a body language that many, many times pushes the referees to have these kind of decisions.

 “The fact that he is not even a Portuguese man, I think that should put even more pressure on him to behave in a certain way, which he didn’t,” Mourinho told the English media here.

The Brazilian newspapers have amplified the story and will sure put more pressure on the Paolo Bento’s team to beat Ghana and the USA to stand a chance of advancing from the group.

African champions, Nigeria, are also in danger of exiting the competition at the first round after a lackluster performance against Iran.

With Argentina beating a gritty Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-1, the pressure will be Nigeria to beat the Europeans on Sunday and get a good result against Lionel Messi’s team on June 25 to advance from Group F.

Super Eagles fans were distraught after that draw against Iran that they threw objects at their team while spewing expletives.

 “We cannot travel from as far as Nigeria to come watch this trash from them. The public has always supported them whenever they want more money from the Government and the FA. But their display against Iran was frustrating,” A

“I flew to Curitiba to watch them play and all they could do is stroll on the pitch? Wait until we play against Bosnia (& Herzegovina). They have to pull up their socks,” said a furious female fan, who declined to reveal her identity.

All African teams except Cote d’Ivoire who beat Japan 2-1 risk exiting the competition early.       Cameroon lost 1-0 to Mexico, Ghana were beaten 2-1 by US and Algeria went down 2-1 against Belgium on Tuesday.