Mexico head coach Gerardo Martino praised his players for their impressive performance in the 2-1 friendly win against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
The El Tri dominated play in the first half, but needed a strong defensive performance after the break to come out winners against the West Africans.
Martino’s side took the lead in the 12th minute through Santiago Gimenez after the Nigerian defence was caught napping.
The Super Eagles rallied back after the break with Cyriel Dessers nodding home in the 56th minute, following a delightful cross from Calvin Bassey.
The Mexicans regained the lead two minutes later with captain William Troost-Ekong scoring an own goal.
“I am satisfied with the 90 minutes because when we had no control of the match, we played with courage and ambition. I loved the first 30 minutes,”Martino said after the game.
“If you have to review Nigeria footballer by footballer, see where they play, if there are Premier players, if there are any who played in the Europa League final, if there are footballers who were in the final between Feyenoord and Roma.
“It seems to me that you have to look at the list to check that, you have to take into account what Mexico’s performance was, especially in the first 30 minutes, so as not to minimize the rival and yes, to re-evaluate a little that first half hour that it was very good”.
Martino’s side will now concentrate on the friendlies against Uruguay and Ecuador.
9 Comments
The last time Ekong kicked a ball was in Nigerian National Team when we got elliminated from qualifying for World Cup by Ghana. The guy is match rusty his overall decision making as a CB is always not a good one sometimes reckless other times erratic he gives away penalties or scores own goals on many occasions he has let his team down. I just wonder when why the so called Nigerian Coaches can’t judge and select players based on merit?
The guy Olisa Ndah alongside Bassey as our CB should please giving a look in. I’m just tired of stupid Oyibo wall it has cost nothing but misery.
Take your frustrations somewhere else,Ekong has been doing well in the past, he is prone to error, because he is human being. You are not perfect yourself.
And you had to bring up sins that he never committed just to prove your hatred for him. Ekong is not the cause of your problems
My problem is this Bonke of a guy. He’s not a national team player. He should be dropped going forward.
I said similar thing last year and early this year when he was invited for the Ghana games rather I was attacked in the forum.
I mentioned his flaws,the most noticeable of them is his poor ball playing ability.
When you are not good or comfortable with the ball it means lacking in flair which results to quick passing either backwards or at best sideways.He definitely not a player that retains possession,not a midfielder to compete against a side that have great men in the midfield or culture of midfield play.Sides like Mexico,Ghana ect.
Our coaches should be careful in the future how they pick players for games otherwise this could cost us important games.
I remember his debut game for the super eagles pairing the diminutive Kingsley Michael in the central midfield,their partnership was a success,thanks to Kingsley Michael who displayed a lot of pace,skill,accurate passes and good positional awareness.Unfortunately he had a back injury at his Italian club Bologna weeks after his tasteful debut for Nigeria.
We missed Kingsley Michael,this is the kind of player we need in the super eagles.A worthy addition that will bring purpose,incisiveness and oil to our midfield.
His injuries unfortunately lasted the whole season,hopefully we have him back early before the commencement of the new football season.He Alhassan Yusuf of Belgian side Antwerp,Raphael Nwadike Denmark Daniel Daga of the flying eagles should form the bulk of the new project Mr Peseiro is planning for the super eagles.
We shall bounce back again,I trust we will.
We Nigeria are also satisfied with our boys performance.
Many people did not watch the match and just woke up this morning and heard the result.
But before you condem the coach
Kindly note the following:
1. The two goals were defensive errors and Uzoho that you tagged bad made a lot of saves.
2. Peseiro just resume not up to a week. His 1st time of seeing both the players and the coaching crew was less than 48 hours to the kickoff.
3. 90 percent of the players have been selected and called to camp before his appointment.
So before you condemn the new coach, think and compare the change in tactics and performance of the players in the second half of the match to the first half.
Super eagles will surely rise again.
God bless Super Eagles of Nigeria.
@Godsate, God bless you. You nailed it too well.
However, since “Nwobodo” is playing in the MSL in the state, the coaching crew should use the opportunity to invite Nwobodo to camp and try him against Ecuador.
Ecuador is another strong team but am happy that our players will have more time to train together before the match against Ecuador.
We need Nwobodo, Azubuike Okechukwu, Ejaria, and Kingsley Michael in the Super Eagles as soon as possible.
More so, @Obillion and Greenturf, I said it categorically on this platform immediately after Bonke first match at the national team that he wasn’t the kind of player that can play in that role.
We have more options to choose from but unfortunately, Azubuike did not make it due to visa issue or so I think. Also, we needed a creative midfielder. I think the new coach will get it right if given the freedom to do his job.
NFF should step aside and letting Oga Paseiro do his job. NFF is the only problem that Oga Paseiro will encounter as time goes on not the players.
If NFF can give him free hand with what I saw against Mexico yesterday then he will definitely win trophies for Nigeria in less than two years and Nigeria will have a solid young and experienced team under the new gaffer.
Lastly, no room for Akpeyi, Shehu, Ahmed Musa and Ighalo in the Super Eagles. They have done their very best and it is time for them to move on. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
This Ishaq Kayode looks promising, he should be given more playing time.
Why is no one talking about Tosin Kehinde of Randers FC. That guy is the solution to our midfield creativity problem. The dude is young, intelligent and a team player. You all should find some time to check him out. he would truly make a difference.