Yesterday the Super Eagles of Nigeria suffered their second straight defeat in friendly game losing 0-1 to Ecuador in the United States of America.

Coach of the Nigerian team Jose Peseiro used as many as thirteen players in the game and OwnGoalNigeria.com picks five players who were below par in the game which is the last ahead of the start of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers for the Super Eagles.

Faisal Sani – He can’t be blamed for not contributing anything meaningful in attack as he is originally a left sided center back or a left back. Looked lost further up the pitch as a right winger but it was in defence that he was caught napping. Lost his man Estupiñán who scored the goal that decided the game.

Terem Moffi – Looked bereft of ideas as he constantly ran into blind alleys. Commited needless fouls although he could have won a penalty for a foul in the box. Didn’t strike a good partnership with Cyriel Dessers in attack. That he lasted 85 minutes is a big shock to all who watched the game.

Chidozie Awaziem – Deservedly got hooked at half time as he was abysmally poor. Had a hand in the first goal. Couldn’t hit simple passes, rash in tackles and indecisive high up the pitch. Ola Aina’s introduction at half time break showed how much of a misfit he is at right back.

Emmanuel Dennis – Hard to blame a player for missing a chance but at his level and high rating sending a cross wide with an empty net in front of him is a concern. Missed a free header from another of Moses Simon’s delivery and defensively he was a liability. It almost cost Nigeria twice. Looks interested when not on the ball.

The head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has provided an explanation on why the team suffered their second consecutive defeat in friendly games following the 0-1 defeat to Ecuador.

Peseiro started over his tenure as coach with a 1-2 loss to Mexico and yesterday an early goal from Pervais Josue Estupiñán settled the game in favour of the Ecuador side.

Speaking after the game, Peseiro blamed his team’s poor start to the game which saw them concede very early and also hinted that the fact that they had two penalty claims not given played a role in the defeat.

“Today I think like it was in  the game against Mexico we didn’t play good but today I think the last 25 minutes or the last 30 minutes of the first half”, he said.

“Only the first 15 minutes we didn’t play like we can because we have players who can move the ball and command the game but we could not in the first 15 minutes. I think after that 15 minutes we played very well in my opinion.

“The second half was much better but it’s not easy, pressure ninety minutes like we did in the second half. I don’t want to speak about referee, At least one penalty. no VAR but in the stadium they show clear penalty goal keeper touched the foot of the striker. The other I don’t know but my assistant told me it’s a clear penalty.

“If the referee gives the penalty and the striker or midfielder scores it, then this game ends 1-1 but it’s ok as everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes and even the players make mistakes”, he concluded.

The senior national team of Nigeria were beaten 0-1 by Ecuador in an international friendly game played in the United States of America. Their second straigh friendly loss.

OwnGoalNigeria.com picks five players who were on top of their game during the course of the duration of the game decided by a goal in the 3rd minute by Pervis Josué Estupiñán.

Calvin Bassey – By far the best player on the pitch for the Nigerian team. He combined his job defensively with constant foray to join attack where his deliveries caused all sort of problems for the defence of Ecuador. A really good display he had.

Francis Uzoho – Had a very good game and he is largely why the scores stayed decent. Could do nothing about the goal he conceded. His distribution was hit and miss but his handling, positioning and reflex were spot on.

William Troost Ekong- Didn’t look like same player who was all over the place against Mexico few days ago. Solid in ground duels, won all his aerial duels. However he could have done better when trying to play from the back. Lucky not to have scored an own goal again but it still didn’t take away the fact that he was very solid.

Alex Iwobi – Back to back games he has proven to be the surest route to goal for the Nigerian team. Set up three chances which were wasted twice by Cyriel Dessers and once by Terem Moffi.

Moses Simon – Created four goal scoring chances. More than any other player on the pitch. Set up a clear cut chance for Emmanuel Dennis which looked easier to score than miss. Could easily have walked away with four assists. Also had more touches than any other player for Nigeria.

A third minute goal by Pervis Josué Estupiñán was good enough for Ecuador to pick a narrow 1-0 win against the senior national team of Nigeria in an international friendly in the United States of America.

Nigeria failed to deal with an early freekick with Faisal Sani guilty of ball watching and Chidozie Awaziem unaware of his surrounding allowing Estupiñán to head across Francis Uzoho for the game’s opening goal.

That goal sparked the Nigerian team to life as they immediately seized the momentum with Cyriel Dessers handed a clear chance but with the goalkepper at his mercy he shot tamely directly at him.

Terem Moffi was next to miss a glift edged chance when his header from a poorly cleared corner kick was kept out by Alexander Dominguez who was in goal for Ecuador.

Dominguez was by far the busiest in the second half, twice denying Dessers from close range and was lucky not to concede when a cross from Moses Simon had him beaten but Emmanuel Dennis somehow failed to divert the ball to goal.

He was also beaten by another cross from Simon but once again Dennis failed to direct his header on target. It wasn’t all Nigeria though as Uzoho has to be called upon twice to keep the scores at 1-0 with few minutes left in the game.

The defeat means the Super Eagles have now lost back to back friendly games which are tune up games for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome and Principe on the 9th and 13th of March respectively.

The head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has made public the lineup for the senior national team of Nigeria for today’s friendly game against Ecuador in the United States of America.

Peseiro started with same set of players who started the second half of the 1-2 loss to Mexico in their first friendly game on Sunday per Nigerian time.

Katsina United defender Faisal Sani who was a second half substitute for Innocent Bonke in that game gets the nod to start today in the absence of the Lorient man. The team will play in the 4-4-2 formation.

Starting XI

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

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.