Super Eagles Poor Form Against Algeria Contnues After Slim Loss

Super Eagles Poor Form Against Algeria Contnues After Slim Loss 

The Super Eagles failed to hold on to their early lead on Tuesday at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran after 1-2 loss to hosts Algeria in an international friendly.

Terem Moffi gave the Nigerian side a ninth minute lead, but Manchester City forward Riyad Mahrez drew Algeria level with a penalty kick goal in the 41st minute.

Midfielder Youcef Atal scored in the 61st minute to hand the Desert Foxes the lead and ultimately the win.

Nigeria have now lost four consecutive matches against Algeria, including a 2018 World Cup qualifier which was forfeited in Algeria’s favour after former manager Gernot Rohr fielded an ineligible player.

The Eagles had played a test game against the home-based Algerian national team on Friday in a 2-2 but met a stiffer opposition when the top Algerian stars on duty for the former African champions.

The night started well for Nigeria, as they controlled the game and bossed the possession.

They got a reward for their hard work just nine minutes into the game. In-form Lorient hitman Moffi latched onto a ball in the Algerian box and fired the ball past a helpless Zeghba to make it 1-0.

Manchester City star man Riyad Mahrez was on hand to dispatch the resulting penalty to make it 1-1 before the break, as Frank Onyeka had fouled an opponent.

At the second stanza of the game, the Algerians continued to dominate which paid off when Youcef Atal struck a long range effort that caught a badly positioned goalkeeper Francis Uzoho off guard.

Nigeria looked quite disjointed after conceding, they lacked zest and bite in attack.

Coach Peseiro tried to tweak up things for the Super Eagles to restore parity, introducing Godwin Saviour, Awoniyi, Dessers, and Onyedika. However, the substitutions failed to pay off.

Nigeria’s next international he is a friendly against Portugal on November 17.