Nigeria will hope to end their poor run of 15 matches without a win in a friendly game when they take on Mozambique at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira on Monday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Both sides, who have booked their spot in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, will be meeting for the first time since January 2014, when the Super Eagles cruised to a 4-2 victory in the Africa Cup of Nations
The two countries continue their preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers when they square at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira and hope for a positive result.
While there is little to separate both sides in their last six friendly games, Mozambique heads into this encounter with a better record.
Nigeria lost five in their last six friendlies and drew one while the Mambas recorded three defeats and three wins.
While the Super Eagles played a 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia’s Green Falcons in their first game of the international break, Chiquinho Conde’s men were held to a 1-1 draw by Angola when the sides locked horns in a friendly matchup at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira.
With Friday’s result, Nigeria have gone 15 consecutive friendly matches without a win, losing nine and picking up six draws since claiming a 1-0 victory over Egypt in March 2019 thanks to an early strike from Paul Onuachu.
Before the draw against the Green Falcons, Jose Paseiro’s men were previously on a run of three wins in their final three games of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, scoring 10 goals and keeping two clean sheets to secure the top spot in Group A with 15 points from six matches.
But the result at the Estadio Municipal de Portimao on Friday, a repeat of the previous meeting between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, means the Eagles’ wait for their first win in a friendly after 15 games continues.
Meanwhile, Mozambique head into today’s game unbeaten in six of their last seven matches across all competitions — picking up three wins and three draws — with a 1-0 defeat against Lesotho in the COSAFA Cup on July 10 being the exception.
However, next up for the East African nation is the stern challenge of taking on an opposing side who have won each of their previous three meetings, scoring eight goals and keeping two clean sheets since a goalless draw in March 2009.
Mambas’ forward ‘Tico Tico’ Bucuane proved a thorn in Nigeria’s flesh in the first encounter in Maputo that ended scoreless.
At the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja in October 2009, it was heading to another 0-0 scoreline before Yusuf Ayila valiantly rescued an outbound ball that landed on the head of Obinna Nsofor for the only goal of the match. Had the match ended 0-0, Nigeria would have been eliminated from the race to the first FIFA World Cup on African soil.
A few months later, at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, the Eagles spanked the Mambas 3-0 in Lubango to qualify for the tournament’s quarter-finals.
