Five talking points from Nigeria’s 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia

By Wale Mustapha

Falcons of Saudi Arabia rallied late to force the Super Eagles of Nigeria to 2-2 draw in an international friendly match decided in Portimao, Portugal on Friday.

Jose Peseiro’s team dominated most period of duration with a number of scoring chances but failed to as Saudi scored an added time goal to share the spoil and deny the Portuguese his first friendly victory in charge of Nigerian side.

Our correspondent monitored the match for Nigeriafootball.ng and listed five takeaways from the match.

1. Peseiro knows his team well enough

Jose Peseiro once again proved why he’s the best man to lead Super Eagles with how he set out the team for the friendly match.

He got his starting line up spot on, especially in the attack with the pairing of the two Victors (Osimhen and Boniface).

His quick response to the goal conceded by Eagles proved his technical mettle as he quickly swap Samuel Chukwueze, Ademola Lookman, and Tyronne Ebuehi for Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, and Bright Osayi-Samuel

The introduction of the trio bought needed spice to the team as two of them (Simon and Iheanacho) contributed to the two goals scored by Nigeria.

2. Uzoho’s gaffe further proved Nigeria is yet to have reliable Number One 

The first goal scored by Saudi Arabia in the second half through a free kick from Salman Al-Faraj was all Francis Uzoho’s fault.

The goalkeeper had all the rooms to decide whether to pick the delivery or parry wide. He was also all lone in the box with more yards to take a step back by dealing with the ball but was lackadaisical.

This is not the first time Nigeria will be dropping points or suffer defeat from goalkeeper’s gaffes and it not only peculiar to Uzoho.

Other keepers like Okoye, Daniel Akpeyi or even Adeleye have had their shares of mistakes which further confirmed the need to charge the exiting ones to step up their games or shop for a better ones.

3. Wasteful Super Eagles need to start converting chances

The Super Eagles created numerous have their nose in front in the first half but fluffed them on each occasions.

Major culprits of those miserable misses were Samuel Chukwueze, Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen and Boniface.

There’s urgent need for the coaches to put the attackers through some scoring drills and charge them to be more dedicated and decisive with their conversions.

4.  Osimhen’s still in shadow of Aiyegbeni in scoring record 

Victor Osimhen was to be replaced in the 59th minute by Terem Moffi after picking up an injury.

His withdrawal means the Napoli striker is yet to match or break the goal record of Yakubu Aiyegbeni in the Super Eagles shirt.

Osimhen has scored 20 goals in 28 games for Nigeria, while Yakubu scored 21 in 58 games.

He may have a chance to achieve that against Mozambique, that is if his injury is not as serious as thought.

5. Wilfred Ndidi pivotal in midfield

The Leicester City star again showed his class in the Super Eagles midfield with his strength and leadership quality.

Ndidi struggled last campaign with injuries but has been impressive for the Foxes in 2023. The former Genk midfielder, however, transmitted club form to the Eagles shirt, impressing against Sao Tome and now against Saudi Arabia.