Super Eagles impressive in narrow defeat by World Cup-bound Portugal in Leiria

The Super Eagles showed great form, confidence and praiseworthy fighting spirit despite losing 1-2 to FIFA World Cup-bound Portugal in an explosive friendly match in Leiria on Wednesday night.

Just before kick-off, Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Shehu Dikko and NFF Executive Committee member Sharif Rabiu Inuwa presented a special framed shirt to midfielder Alexander Iwobi to mark the occasion of his 100th appearance for the Super Eagles.

Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest individuals to have played the game, led the Seleção das Quinas out onto the turf of the Estádio Dr Magalhães Pessoa, but the home team and crowd soon realized that the three-time African champions were not in any mood to simply turn up and be dazzled.

Ronaldo missed with only goalkeeper Maduka Okoye to beat in the 9th minute, but at the other end, Akor Adams also missed as he dragged his shot a little too wide to the left.

In the 23rd minute, Pedro Neto steered Portugal in front as he fired a grounder past Okoye from close range, after a pass by Diogo Dalot as das Quinas broke forward again.

Ten minutes later, Okoye spectacularly saved a fierce shot by Bruno Fernandes, and just a minute after, Ronaldo missed narrowly with a glancing header from Fernandes’ corner.

Nigeria kept probing. The fit-fight Akor contested an aerial ball close to the centre circle and tipped the ball away from two Portuguese defenders, ran to his left to await delivery by Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, and blasted past Diogo Costa for Nigeria’s leveller with 37 minutes gone.

In the second half, Okoye made a double save from João Félix, in the 48th and 49th minutes. Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo also continued his search for a goal, but he failed to connect well from a cross in the 50th minute.

On the hour, Coach Éric Chelle made a number of changes, bringing in Abdullahi Bewene, Zaidu Sanusi, Terem Moffi, Raphael Onyedika and Frank Onyeka. This appeared to rejuvenate Nigeria’s game, and they were once more pushing forward with elan, as Ronaldo exited in the 65th minute without the goal he wanted so much.

With 15 minutes left, Francisco Çonceicao got the winner for the das Quinas, firing home after cutting in from the right and with Okoye’s sight somewhat impaired.

Félix’s efforts to get on the scoresheet was again scuttled in the 84th minute by Okoye, who pushed away another fierce delivery by the forward.

The loss was only the second in regulation time for Coach Chelle after leading the Super Eagles in 25 matches over the past 15 months.