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/Completesports.com’s Live Blogging of Ecuador Vs Nigeria – International Friendly Match At the Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey.
Live Blogging: Ecuador Vs Nigeria – International Friendly Match
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports.
Email: nnamdi.ezekute@completesportsnigeria.com
X (Formerly Twitter): @Ezekutive
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82 Comments
So good
Hello everyone, Any inks to watch the match?
https://youtu.be/UTBCit48clo
http://www.hesgoal.com/news/104670/Ecuador_vs_Nigeria.html
Inside two minutes, they have conceded already! I’m aware, it’s an exhibition game but it just doesn’t inspire confidence. I hope they recover, anyway.
They can’t recover anything. A team that doesn’t know how to shoot from outside the 18-yard box? Thank God they didn’t qualify for the World Cup.
Go play your own
You don’t like to hear the truth. I don’t settle for mediocrity. From what I have seen, our team is VERY poor. Period. They are not going anywahere.
This is one of their biggest problems.
How do you score when you don’t shoot?
Even when they manage a shot at goal, the technique is all over the place.
This is what Peseiro needs to work on.
If we start shooting at goal better, we might get something from this game.
Watch at nff.tv
Why is the coach playing 6-2-2 and why is he playing them out of position.
You people that made them sack Rhor, I hope you are happy now?
Please send link. Thanks
Abeg any other links please this Nff live TV done do like Nigeria.
http://www.hesgoal.com/news/104670/Ecuador_vs_Nigeria.html
Iwobi and Aribo are doing well. Both are covering a lot of ground in the middle.
Our only shot on target has come from Dessers, who received a lovely thru pass from iwobi.
I think we are playing well. Just need to shoot more at goal.
Uzoho has been on point so far. Made a fine save from a curling effort by an Ecuador player that was heading for his top left hand corner.
It’s a very poor officiating,we would have been leading with a goal or two now. Aribo and Iwobi dey command d midfield very well. I think I Iwobi has found his form rythm again.
This una new coach does not inspire confidence o.
2 penalty shouts for Nigeria so far. Ref waves both away.
Ecuador 1 – 0 Nigeria Video
Peseiro and Nigeria players surround the ref after the first half whistle. Understandably so. His refusal to award what look like clear penalties to Nigeria has obviously upset the Nigeria camp.
Is this why dey sacked rohr…
I think the truth is beginning to unfold that our players are below average
lets hope second half comes with some difference otherwise this Peseiro is beginning to look like a audio coach.
So far so good with what have seen the new coach has surprised me .He is bold.he gets angry easily which to me will boost the mentality of our players to fear no team.
It’s a pity we didn’t give him the job on time.
Nigeria out played them but smart wise they are better.the goal looks offside to me.iwobi is untiring and bassy is a beast
How have we not had at least 2 penalties from this game?? We had a penalty against Mexico too that would’ve been awarded if VAR was present.
Those were 2 clear penalties. Clear as crystal.
The referee’s decision not to award them, especially the first one when Moffi was brought down in the box by the Ecuador goalie seems really dodgy indeed!
Who is the number 3 for us? They need to sub him sharply, he is the weak link in the team
Awaziem not looking like himself today so far, very jittery and giving the ball away too much
I am nore impressed with Moffi (number 9 abi?) and a bit more impres well, there is light at the end of those tunnels
Finally, for all those dissing Troost E, please buy soap and clean out your mouths, also don’t forget to go to church on Sunday or Mosalasi on Friday and ask God for forgiveness..
Oya bring on the second o jare!
Up Nigeria!
Loool, Troost is trying today. Has made some telling interceptions. Him and Ajayi have combined well.
Nigeria should have been given a penalty especially the one on moffi.. very poor referee decision in that case..
For me desser has been poor, how on earth should he miss such a rare chance, a player like iheancho or oshimen won’t miss that, or was it as a result of the injury he had..
I expect a goal in the second half.. aino should come in , we need his creativity from the right wing , deseer should rest, and a dessi should replace him.. 2 goals for Nigeria in the second half. My prediction
And you think Iheanancho will be in such position and be more direct towards goal? Even Oshimen has lost a better chance than that several times, so chill my brother.
Go and sleep mr unique . The goals iheancho has been scoring for Nigeria where you the one that placed him in such scoring positions.. we most times don’t appreciate what we have , no wonder players are not taking friendly games seriously any more.. we should not be carried away with desser, he missed two clear chances, even Ecuador didn’t have such clear chances like he did.. we lost this game because he didn’t take his chances..
I wonder who made the list for this friendly, what are these home based players doing in the team, they are way below super eagles standard.. I hope they would invite new players for the Afcon qualifiers..we need a new right back, aino had a protective cover for his left and obviously he might have played with Pain or injury.. don’t we have other right backs.. the boys needed fresh legs in the midfield but there was no one on the bench .. why was iheancho not invited.. if This new coach fail to invite more new players for the next matches, we will continue to lose
The guy in Jersey 19 should have scored with a header but he didn’t direct the ball.He is clearly a home-based player. We need to work on our shoots at goal.Moses Simon after all this time is poor at taking free kicks,someone else should be giving that responsibility.
The guy spotting No 19 is Terem Moffi. He plays in France
I warned Jose he didn’t listen. See na.
Many typos in that last post [sic]
I meant also to say that I am also a bit more impressed by Dessers and same applies to Moffi – there seems to be rays of light at the end of those tunnels-
The rest is the same, Stop dissing Troost Ekong please, see how many times he has saved us tonight because of that guy playing number 3, whoever he is he is not SE material, he needs to stay home.
Bassey as magnificient as ever and almost seems like our most attacking player and he is a defender!
Iwobi and Ayodele are both stepping up and more grease to their elbows but the reality is that this team needs a much better midfield presence because from the showing of the last two games, our midfield will just get overrun x amount of times because it is none existent as it is and we have no real presence in there where we should have a strong and reliable ball carrying holder and a skilful AM.
Aribo and Iwobi are trying in the middle, but just like against Mexico, the midfield still looks a bit “soft”. Missing someone like Ndidi or another capable DM. Someone who can do the dirty work in the middle and also help with possession and distribution.
Aina and Dennis are coming in. Let’s see what they have to offer.
I can’t imagine staying awake this night and not watch at least a goal from our boys..
They should up their game ecaudor has more ball possession and better first half match statistics than we do..
I want good chances come second half
With what these players have exhibited over one and half match, they don’t deserve to go to the world cup. 90% of them are jokers. This is why they are either bench warmers in their clubs or substitute players.
Imagine Uzoho organizing his defense and even pointing to the nos 20 and 3 to mark the Ecuadorian player that scored the first goal and both of them refused and were just ball watching till the guy ghosted past them to score that goal. That is very annoying indeed and you could see the anger written all over Uzohor’s face after the goal. That goal na the kin goal wey some players they take collect slap inside pitch.
Any Nigerian coach, be it foreigner or local that is expecting goals to come from the legs of Moses Simon or that player that wear no 19 is day dreaming. Why would Moses Simon be the player designated to be taking our set pieces? A player who plays on the right or left wing and can’t make one successful pullout! That is the number one criteria to be used to glue Moses Simon to the bench of the super eagles. If he cannot make a successful pullout as an out field player, he does not deserve to start any match for Nigeria.
In the defense, the earlier we start looking for replacement for Ekong, the better for the super eagles. What is the job of a captain and a defender in a team who cannot organize his defense. Though he eventually made some crucial tackles in the first match. But I honestly think the time of Ekong as super eagles first choice defender is already up.
In the midfield, we still need a rugged ball mover. Iwobi is trying. In fact, in the first half, he has played more as the central defensive midfielder. This is not his role and it goes to show that somebody in that midfield is not doing his job.
You also need to observe that our passes are terrible. Things are a bit better in 2nd half. But this team can’t score. Period.
That Number 19 …na wa o.
It’s basically an away game for Nigeria.
Ecuador fans everywhere!
What a miss from Dennis!
These are indeed hard times for the Super Eagles. How do we explain the fact that we’ve scored just one goal from open play (Dessers vs Mexico) in our last five matches? This is a clear indicator that something is fundamentally wrong with the nomenclature of that team. I don’t think we’ve ever had it this bad.
In the last 5 matches we’ve seen almost all the players we clamored for, name them; Osimhen, Sadiq, Awoniyi, Lookman, Olayinka, Dessers, Dennis, Morfi, Bassey, home based players etc yet we keep recording poor results.
From our worst AFCON outing in about 40yrs to non qualification for world cup and now two straight losses under a new coach, all I can say is hmmmmmmmmm.
I sincerely hope we’re not rushing back to the 67th position that Rohr met us on his arrival in 2016.
I hope Peseiro will be able to turn things around in good time. These disappointments are just too much to bear within a space of five months.
Just 1 goal from open play in 5 games.
Wow.
We have to do a better job of CONVERTING OUR CHANCES and SHOOTING AT GOAL FROM IN AND AROUND THE BOX.
Kolawole just missed another begging chance, trying to dribble the goalie and taking too much time on the ball!
Bassey’s the only world class player we have on the pitch
He is the only one ooo. Very strong and skillful.
Incredible misses from the super eagles!
If you can’t score don’t concede!
The worst coach and the beginning of a bleak Nigerian football era.
Eventually we ended up with a facebook coach. Folks, ge ready for his press interview.
Does this team need an extra coach on how to be clinical with scoring chances and also shoot outside the 18 yard box? Flashes of brilliance here and there but some many begging chances that were mismanaged.
Meanwhile, it seems Moses is back to his Rohr days with so much huffing and puffing but no end results, throwing away with reckless abandon most of the team’s foray opportunities from the flanks.
Certainly missing the fight and ferocity of Odimhen, the experience and bullet shots of Iheanacho, the fierce contest of the ball and incisive passes of Ndidi, the wizardry of Ejuke from the wings to unlock defenses, the industry and tirelessness of Sanusi etc.
The team lost but I’m seeing some promises and improvement in the way they string passes and move the ball forward. The full house/strength team will be stronger with the new tactics.
Btw, the ref clearly was biased cos of the partisan crowd. With VAR, this should have been a 2-1 win for Nigeria
Nigeria!!!! How post rohr era be with eagles so far now? I hear someone say bitter or what do say over there?
Only God knows where this one will place us in Fifa ranking. At least Eguavoen met us at 36th position.
I just don’t even know where to start or end lol…… haven’t won a game since Tunisia beat us. I know we are missing some key players but let’s face it 75% of our team is average players…..Basseh is the standout and Aina did well when he came on.
This isn’t a match to rate rate the team, to be honest. I won’t do that. We keep on saying the players are average. How come they play above average in their clubs? A stupid coach can always make a brilliant player average with poor tactics and wrong deployment. That’s happened under Eguaveon. He didn’t only destroyed our chances of going to the WC, he ensured these players list their credibility with the fans. That’s a two-edged sword! But seriously speaking, the players aren’t as bad as we paint them.
An average Dessers in Nigeria is the highest goal scorer in UECL.
An average Simon in the Nigeria won the best player award in Nantes several times.
An average Bassey, Aribo and Balogun kicked out Borrusia Dortmond, RB Leipzig from UEC and played in the final as well with a goal in that game for Aribo.
An average Chukwueze destroyed Bayern Munich in the 1/2 final of Champions League.
An average Lookman and Iheabacho played in the final of UEL.
An average Osimhen finished as Napoli’s best player in Serie A, now one of the most sought after players in Europe.
An average Awoniyi destroyed many defences in Germany and ended up as one of the league’s top scorers.
An average Denis ended up as Watford’s best player in EPL.
An average Bassey is the target of many top clubs in Europe right now.
What exactly do we want as fans of SEs? I see some promise in this coach. It’s been long Nigeria dominated play like we did in the second half of both matches. It simply shows Peseiro is cooking something for us, but we all wanna consume an undone delicacy. While I agree that some players have no business being in that team, but there’s no way the coach won’t know if he didn’t use them. I know a lot of players who participated in the these matches won’t return to the team. And by the time we have a fuller house with more time in training, things will surely get better. It’s obvious that the only difference between Ecuador and Nigeria today was the cohesion and team work in the Latin American team. Otherwise, there was little to choose. We had two penalty appeals not awarded. Dessers and Moffi also could have surely scored from very promising positions. That’s something I will take away from the game. And it’s even good that coach used those home based players so we can all see why some of them, if not all, could be a serious liability to the team. Faisal was watching the ball when that Ecuador guy scored their goal.
Let’s just support the team. I trust them to come through.
Desserrs missed his chance to be a stater ,why try to dribble when u can just place the ball on the right side and score,please enough of of home based players that can’t play football,when Aina came in our game changed
Guys chill this is not enough to rate the white dude. We have a match on the 9th.
They got away with one and they know they’ve been in a game that’s for sure.
We beat these if we meet again and especially with one or two first choice players – Ndidi, Lookman and others available, it was obvious with their time wasting antics at the end
I like what I see of Peserio so far, he has passion and character and mot afraid to stick up for his team, much much better in that respect to what we’ve had so thats gravy for me
All in all, a very good and enjoyable game between two evenly matched sides even though our side was more or else our B team – Let’s look to see improvement, little tweaks in the coming games and we should start to see our team regain some dominance in Africa at least for a start
The man is trying because coaching SE is no mean job. It is herculean, believe me. Bassey is cool sha..lolz!
Lol!
Bassey is our best player and I have always said this even before he was invited I said he will be a revelation and he has been, That home based Mbaoma and the number 3 should no how be in the SE – not good enough.
Points from todays match
Aribo and bassey best, players.
Both strikers useless.
Never ever compare kolawole dessers with osimhen again.
Homebase can’t even trap a simple ball to save their lives, Faisal was moving in slow mo(tion).
Time to ease out moses simon somehow.
Aribo should be incharge of setpiece duty.
Build that team around bassey, osimhen and aribo, let the team play for them, everyone must not play like messi in a team, let some do the more important work, your job should be getting the ball to them in good positions.
Finally if we do want to integrate homebase players into the national team, then we must do the right thing,we do not have quality in the league, na truth be that, so we have to go lower to the under 10s or 8s and teach them the science of football, not just ‘hey shola you go play nine today, ola oya defend defend’ no, teach them the science of football, for example how the ball moves when its hit from diff angles, teach them basic tactical positioning and decision making, teach them discipline let them grow with these things , i can’t go deeper, i would be writing a lot
We missed so many chances!
Kolawole missed two. He missed a one-on-one with the goalie in the first half, after a thru pass from Iwobi. He missed again in the 2nd half, dilly-dallying on the ball and trying to dribble the goalie.
Moffi misdirected a header in the first half, and blazed the rebound over the bar.
The biggest miss of the day came via Dennis, who missed a sitter, contriving to blast the ball into the stands with the net wide open, after Simon found him in the box.
If we had taken these chances, we could have had 4 goals.
There were several other chances missed.
The main problem of this team is we don’t take enough of our chances, and we don’t shoot enough at goal. Even the best teams in the world will achieve nothing if they fail to score goals. Peseiro has his work cut out for him.
If you are talking about the cross, bassey made that cross for an easy tapping for Dennis
Spot on! I was being gregarious and generous with Dessers and Moffi, before today I did not even want to see those guys but at the same time we have eyes and cannot be too harsh, so there is still hope for those two and in fact many others are in the same position nevertheless, the most important thing to take from all this is as you say
1) Our finishing / shooting is wowo, an embarrassment and must be improved
2) We are beyond poor at set pieces, corners, dead ball deliveries etc – more work to be done there
3) Passing and composure on the ball seems slightly better but still nowhere near good enough
Peseiro does indeed have his work cut out.
2 losses for pezero. Whilst it is not time to bring out the knives but it was an underwhelming performance.
The only players who can hold their heads high in this game are Bassey, iwobi and uzoho. The Strikers were dreadful, particularly Moffi. Why they allow Simon to take set pieces beats me. Ola Anna’s form is a source for concern. The midfield continues to be a problem for the SE.
Central Defense is a problem, though Ekong had a better game today , I am still not sold out on him. Pezero caused us the game today, there was no DM.
Nice game but average coaching techniques. Well, this tells us we can’t afford to win all the time, kudos eagles.
This is very sad, they can’t even score in a single goal..
I will not blame the coach because he didn’t make the list for these friendly.. that salisu or what do they call him should not near this team from Henceforth, what did we achieve inviting home based players? Is the super eagles a place to train players? They can even trap the ball well.. this matches should have been used to try new good players not local boys who cannot qualify for chan tournament..
I must say bassey is a good player, when he holds the goal it gives me so much joy, pls more players should be invited and those criticizing ekong should stop it ,he was our best defender tonight, he would get a good club or remain with Watford and he would surely regain his starting shirt..
Hahahaha, some people want to make the SE camp the ENCOURAGEMENT AND REHABILITATION CENTER for home-based players.
We said it, and we will keep saying it. Inviting players because they are “home-based” is counter productive. Home-based today will become foreign-based after 1 or 2 caps. The best route is to invite only the best, wherever they may be found.
All ôf una clamouring fổr home base players shay una eyes don clear now
Eguavoen’s second game as Super Eagles interim coach was against Egypt.
My only positives from the two friendlies are Bassey, Iwobi, Uzoho, Aribo and Aina when he came on as well as Ekong and Ajayi combo. We seriously need a complete overhaul of these team. The earlier we realize that all we have are average players at best the better for our health as fans. I will only accommodate Iheanacho, Ndidi, Osimhen, Chukwueze and Lookman back to join the players I mentioned earlier then build from the U23, FlyingEagles and GoldenEaglets going forward if this coach really want to achieve something. We definitely deserve not to be in the WorldCup with this bunch mediocre players.
@Ayphillydegreat, very well summed up.
For super eagles to be a complete team, we need:
1. We decent a right fullback.
2. Awaziem is a foreign homebase, We need to quickly find good replacement for Balogun and Ekong.
3. We need to understand that M.Simon is our new Willian, If he do good today, don’t expect another good from him alteast in the next 10 matches. If you expect too much from him, you are at your own peril.
4. Dear Dennis, Playing for Nigeria is not do or die cos it looks like we are forcing you to play for super eagle.
5. You see the Mboma or weytin dem call ham? Na minus one. Infact homebase should remain home base.
6. Pesiero tactics and approach to make sub is topnotch, he can make super eagle a great team.
7. D truth be sey super Eagles na average team.
Peseiro was a failure with Venezuelan national team. For those expecting miracles, keep waiting. He can only try but will still lose the next match. The name of the game is goal and goals.
We need to take things easy at times. Yes, I know, tempers can fly, but in a game like this, we need to pay more attention to how the team plays than winning. Its like this guy is building from the scratches. 60% of these players wouldn’t have made it on a normal day. A lot of them are strange bed fellows. I cant imagine the last time Nigeria went to a match with 8 home-based players. Not to also forget the fact that this is the first assignment for Jose Peseiro, in a stadium completely dominated by the fans and supported of Equador. We should also remember that the coach is still trying a number of systems, organising the team and building the confidence of the players. Its a largely an experimental side, and yet some of us want the boys to start playing like Spain straight off. How on earth is that possible? It will take a few more friendlies, a few more games before we begin to see any meaningful result. They played better in this match than they did against Mexico. The development will surely continue. There will be mistakes here and there at this stage, but things will get a lot better in subsequent matches. I’m not overly concerned about the team winning now. I want to see the effectiveness of the coach’s philosophy, how the team is set up, Peseiro’s system of play and how his players are responding to it. I know with time, things will get better.
I see people saying our team is average, please its not average, it above average. A team that can boast of ndidi, osimhen, bassey, lookman, sadiq umar, iwobi, aribo, ndah, prime chukwueze, note the word prime, shouldn’t be called average, we have a better team than Ukraine yet see what they play. We are few levels above average, with the potential to be more, we just need to get the best players on the pitch and a very good system to get the best out of them, hopefully pesiero can give us that. And we have to drop simon and ekong, their inconsistencies can’t take us anywhere. We need to also search for ndidis substitute, and finally build the team around osimhen, bassey and aribo, maybe iwobi
I even forgot to mention guys like zaidu, if e sure for you, go and try to be a starter in the best team in Portugal, other nigerians have failed there, porto, Portuguese league,top five in the world, also awoniyi, no matter how you wan take put am, baba has 15 goals in the bundesliga. Our hope now for an ndidis replacement is kingsley Michael, injury been stol am for Bologna last season, by God’s grace the season coming, he can shine over there
I even forgot to mention guys like zaidu, if e sure for you, go and try to be a starter in the best team in Portugal, other nigerians have failed there, porto, Portuguese league,top five in the world, also awoniyi, no matter how you wan take put am, baba has 15 goals in the bundesliga. Our hope now for an ndidis replacement is kingsley Michael, injury been stol am for Bologna last season, by God’s grace the season coming, he can shine over there
Dennis is had some flashes of indiscipline and bad temper…..Words about him might be true
Dennis had*
5 loses at a stretch is nothing to be Proud off. ‘Our own’ is not working since they fired former Oga. Ekong tried tonight. Nigeria may not qualify for ASCON like from how they played tonight using so-called home-based players. They only depend on Bassey. Iheanacho and Osimhen would have got something for Nigeria tonight. Even Pual Onuacho would have pulled a cat from the hole tonight.
DENNIS IS CRAP. THEY NEED TO LET THAT GUY BE. HE IS NOT A TEAM PLAYER. SAW THE GAME LIVE AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE COACH HAS A LOT TO DO. SO.E PLAYERS ARE JUST NOT EAGLES MATERIAL. AM SORRY SIMON NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. THE ONLY EXCUSE I MADE SO FAR IS PROBABLY THE GUYS ARE TIRED FROM PLAYING SO MUCH GAME ALL SEASON. WONDERED WHAT THE LOCAL COACHES WERE DOING. THEY WERE JUST SITTING DOWN ALLOWING THE OTHER COACHES BE PASSING INFO TO THE PLAYERS. THATS SUSPECT FOR ME