The senior national team of Nigeria will take on the senior national team of Ecuador in an international friendly game as part of their preparation for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which begins next month.

Jose Peseiro will took charge of the senior national team of Nigeria for the first time when they lost 1-2 to Mexico at the AT & T stadium in the first of the two friendly games the Nigerian team will play in the United States.

Fans of the team who wish to see the game will be able to watch it on popular streaming website Hesgoal.com. The game is listed for broadcast. It might likely be streamed on the official Facebook handle of the Nigeria Football Federation as well.

No confirmation yet but sources at the NFF told this portal that the game will likely be streamed on NFF.tv as well if all goes according to plan. The timing for the game cut across two different days base on time zone difference.

In the United States of America it will be played by 8:30pm on Thursday but for viewers in Nigeria it will be aired by 1:30am very early on Friday morning.

Former Nigeria international defender Celestine Babayaro says Cyriel Dessers is a better fit to the system of the Super Eagles than first choice forward Victor Osimhen.

Napoli forward Osimhen has been the first choice of the team since the retirement of Odion Ighalo but Dessers who has a whirlwind season in the Netherlands is challenging for his spot.

Dessers scored ten goals in the Europa Conference League for Feyenoord where he is on loan from Genk of Belgium. He carried same form to the senior national team of Nigeria where he marked his return with a goal in the 1-2 loss to Mexico.

Babayaro said base on what he saw against Mexico with Dessers in attack and in the previous games where Osimhen played in attack, Dessers looks more like the player who fits the style of the team as he compliments other players.

” I watched Dessers against Mexico and his movements is top notch. He takes up position behind defenders which makes it easy for him to be picked up with through balls. Osimhen likes the ball at his feet to run with it. The team don’t have players who can make him effective playing that way”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” Dessers loves ball pinged behind defenders as he times his runs into the box and finishes very well. It’s a nice headache to have for a coach because each game requires different approach and sometimes players”, he concluded.

The newly appointed coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has pointed out the main problem he has observed in the set up of the team.

Peseiro who only recently took over as coach was asked about his opinion on the team ahead of the friendly game against Ecuador and he explained what he has seen so far as an issue.

“If I am a Nigerian I will be happy with the Super Eagles because they have good players. We have too much qualify in the team but all that needs to improve are organisation, good system, consistency. We need to improve all that but our national team has quality and there is room to improve a lot”, he said at the pre match conference.

On what led to the 1-2 loss against Mexico in his first game in charge of the team as coach, the Portuguese blamed it on lack of enough days to properly train for a game of that magnitude. He lamented the fact that they only had two training sessions before the game.

“Like I said earlier, in the first half against Mexico we didn’t play well and I’m responsible for that because I was the one who out out the team. Due to lack of enough time for practice we could not play well, we only had two trainings before the game against Mexico.

“In the second half we changed the system and we improved, showed good character, good quality only the result wasn’t good, no team wants to lose any match”, he said.

Ahead of today’s game, he said he is hoping for a better performance than the Mexico game owing to the fact that they have spent more days in training ahead of the game.

“For the game against Ecuador I want us to do well, I want us to do better than Mexico. Everybody knows Mexico are in eight position in the FIFA ranking and you have to play better against Mexico”, he concluded.

The new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro will likely make two changes to the starting lineup of the senior national team of Nigeria for today’s friendly game against Ecuador.

OwnGoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered from sources in the camp of the team that Peseiro who look set to stick to 3-5-2 formation for the game has two new players in mind who were not in the team that lost 1-2 to Mexico.

The return to full fitness of Ola Aina means he will be back in the starting lineup in place of Semi Ajayi who looked lost in an unfamiliar role playing as the right sided defender in a back three. Aina will play as right wing back with Calvin Bassey dropping to the position of a left sided center back.

Innocent Bonke is out injured and in his place, the coach will likely play Emmanuel Dennis in on the right with Moses Simon switching to the left where he sparingly played in the second half against Mexico.

Barring a last minute change of mind, it looked like those two will be the only new players in the starting lineup who were not part of the game against Mexico. A final decision will be made later today when the team meet for the regular pre game talk.

Expected 11

Francis Uzoho
Chidozie Awaziem
Calvin Bassey
William Ekong
Ola Aina
Moses Simon
Joe Aribo
Alex Iwobi
Emmanuel Dennis
Cyriel Dessers
Terem Moffi

Per reports exclusively gathered by OwnGoalNigeria.com editorial team, the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro will stick to 3-5-2 formation when they take on Ecuador in an international friendly game in the United States of America.

The game will be played today in the US but in the early hours of tomorrow in Nigeria just like it was when they played Mexico in their first friendly game which ended 2-1 in favour of El Tri. It appears the Nigerian team will also use same formation.

Yesterday’s training which happens to be the last session before the game gave us a better hint as the coach lined up the players in same way they started the game against Mexico, despite the fact that they played better in the second half when the formation was switched to 4-4-2.

Peseiro believe with the players in the team at the moment they are more suited to playing with three at the back when on the offensive and five at the back when they defend.

Although it didn’t work as planned in his first game in charge, he is adamant that it was due to less practice session with the players and after spending more days in camp, he is optimistic that the team will interpret the tactics better than they did against Mexico.

Cracks are beginning to appear in the camp of the senior national team of Nigeria over the behaviour of new coach Jose Peseiro to his Nigerian assistants, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Peseiro was appointed head coach of the Super Eagles and came with three of his assistants which includes an assistant coach (Asacio Santos) fitness coach (Maykel Moreira) and a video analyst (Hugo Victor) who also doubles as his son.

Prior to his appointment, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appointed three Nigerian coaches (Finidi George, Salisu Yusuf, Usman Abdallah) to work with him as assistants including a goalkeeper trainer in Ike Shorunmu and a video analyst in Eboboritse Uwejamomere.

However so far there has been zero synergy between the Portuguese coach and his Nigerian assistants. He only speaks and work with the three coaches who came with him. A situation which has come as a surprise to some backroom staff.

We gathered it started prior to the 1-2 friendly loss to Mexico in his first game in charge as he worked only with his Portuguese assistants. Same was extended to the day of the match in particular during the half time break.

” It started from training and we all thought it was normal as he is yet to get to know us and the people he came with are already familiar with the drills. We watched the first two sessions as onlookers and pick balls like ball boys’,a member of the back room staff told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” On the day of the match, he sat close to his three assistants and constantly communicated with them in Portuguese. At half time he took three of them into one of the dressing rooms in the stadium leaving us with the players. After their meeting he came back and address the players with instructions to change formation for the second half. We were just looking”, he further said.

” Even his son whose job as a video analyst means he should be in the background get involved more than the rest Nigerian coaches. We recently had a gym session and it was his son and the fitness coach who handled it. Maybe it will get better but for now we don’t have any synergy with him”, he concluded.

The senior national team of Nigeria were beaten 1-2 by Mexico in the first of their two friendly game in the United States of America, no thanks to an own goal by captain of the team William Troost Ekong.

OwnGoalNigeria.com rates the players who were on for Nigeria in what was the first game for new coach Jose Peseiro.

Francis Uzoho – Made two big saves in the first half to deny Mexico the chance of killing the game as a contest. Unlucky to concede after his save came off Santiago Gimenez for Mexico’s opener…..7/10

Chidozie Awaziem – Lost his man for the first goal scored by Mexico. Solid in duels but looked suspect in terms of his positioning. Also poor with his distribution……5/10

William Ekong – Not one to shy away from a duel and he was his usual self. He didn’t look quite confident maybe due to his inactivity at club level. Scored an own goal from what should have been a routine clearance…..4/10

Semi  Ajayi – Struggled to cope with the pace of the Mexicans down his flank. Did well with the ball at his feet and it helped in keeping possession. Played really well in the second half when the team shifted to a back four……6/10

Innocent Bonke – Guilty of sideways and backward passes even when a pass forward should be the best option. Despite covering lot of grounds and getting stuck in duels he still didn’t cover himself in glory…..3/10

Alex Iwobi – Made himself available for a pass and always tried to play forward. His quick feet helped him beat the Mexican press with ease. He was more of a threat in the second half and played a huge role in Nigeria having most of the ball…..6.5/10

Joe Aribo – When on the ball he looked very much at home and worked his socks off  without the ball. Played too close to the defence hence didn’t carry the threat he possesses in the opponent’s half…..6/10

Moses Simon – Worked hard to provide cover for Ajayi who isn’t the quickest. Should have taken more responsibility particularly when in the opponent’s box……6/10

Calvin Bassey- Loves to run with the ball but wasn’t on same wavelength with his teammates hence he is mostly isolated when he decides to release the ball and when he finally got one in Dessers was on hand to draw Nigeria level……6/10

Terem Moffi – Dropped deep to link up play and caught the eyes with how he held the ball up. Brought others to play but didn’t get going against a resolute Mexico defence……5/10

Cyriel Dessers – Made really clever runs and constantly tried to put defenders under pressure. Lively and menacing but lack of service made him ineffective until he got picked by a cross from Bassey which he finished off to draw Nigeria level…..6.5/10

The new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has revealed his first line up for the friendly game against Mexico at the AT &T arena in Texas.

OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the Portuguese coach has decided to go for 3-5-2 formation ditching the 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 the team used majorly under their previous two coaches.

Peseiro went for Francis Uzoho in goal and in defence picked the trio of Semi Ajayi, Chidozie Awaziem and William Troost Ekong. In midfield Innocent Bonke starts alongside the duo of Alex Iwobi and Joe Aribo.

The duo of Aribo and Iwobi will operate further high up the pitch with Moses Simon and Calvin Bassey playing as right and left wing backs respectively. The twin attack will be led by Terem Moffi and Cyriel Dessers.

Francis Uzoho
Chidozie Awaziem
William Ekong
Semi  Ajayi
Innocent Bonke
Alex Iwobi
Joe Aribo
Moses Simon
Calvin Bassey
Terem Moffi
Cyriel Dessers