Portugal en route to World Cup humiliate Eagles in Lisbon
A first-half brace from Bruno Fernandes and two quick second-half goals from Goncalo Ramos and Joao Mario saw Nigeria fall 4-0 to Portugal in the World Cup in a international friendly at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday, The PUNCH reports.
The Seleção das Quinas, as the Portuguese national team is called, were without Cristiano Ronaldo but still had enough firepower to humiliate the Super Eagles in front of the 50,000 spectators before traveling to Qatar for the World Cup which starts on Sunday.
Portugal kicked off the game and immediately began to show their superiority by dictating the pace of the game.
Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix should have given the Europeans the lead in the first five minutes following a fine pass from Manchester United Bruno Fernandes but the striker made a mistake and didn't could not connect with the ball giving the Eagles defense the opportunity to clear the ball.
Two minutes later, Fernandes nearly scored the goal for Portugal but his shot missed the target by inches despite Francis Uzoho being pinned down.
One minute later, Portugal's pressure paid off as the Manchester United midfielder opened the scoring to put the 2016 European champions ahead just nine minutes after the start. beginning of the meeting.
Diogo Dalot made a nice run down the right flank and threw a pass to his club teammate who coolly sent the ball into an empty net.
Nigeria started to enter the game after falling behind less than 10 minutes into the game. Ajax's Calvin Bassey dribbled past three defenders but the chance was wasted without a team-mate to give the final pass to.
Portugal continued to torment the Eagles defense and came close to scoring the second goal of the night after just 14 minutes with Uzoho beaten by a looped shot from Otavio.
Felix thought he had scored his first and Portugal's second goal after a fine shot that narrowly missed the target.
Nigeria's best chance of the match came in the 24th minute after a fine solo run from Joe Aribo, who sped up the midfield and threw a pass to Alex Iwobi but the final pass from the Everton player was blocked by Ruben Dias for Nigeria's first corner.
The three-time African champions were almost punished for the resulting corner as Felix was released for a counterattack but Bright Osayi-Samuel's timely intervention forced the 23-year-old's shot into the corner .
Portugal continued to put more pressure on Jose Peseiro's side and were rewarded after Osayi-Samuel was judged for handling the ball in the penalty with the Cypriot referee , Chrysovalantis Theodorou, pointing to the penalty spot.
Fernandes converted from the spot sending Uzoho the wrong way to score two goals for Portugal.
The midfielder came close to scoring a hat trick but was unable to send the ball into an empty net after rounding the Nigerian keeper.
Portugal took a good goal advantage in the break as Theodorou ended the first half.
As the second half was about to begin, Peseiro brought in duo Samuel Chukwueze and Frank Onyeka for Ademola Lookman and Wilfred Ndidi respectively.
Fernandes would not get the chance to score his hat trick as coach Fernando Santos replaced him for Vitinha while Dias and Bernardo Silva were also replaced by Raphael Guerreiro and Joao Mario .
The Eagles' performance in the second half improved from their lackluster performance in the first 45 minutes as they were able to chain a few passes together and control the game better.
After an improved second-half performance, Nigeria had the opportunity to cut the deficit after Osayi-Samuel was brought down in the box for a penalty but Emmanuel Dennis failed to score from the spot when his shot was saved by Rui Patricio.
The Eagles had to pay for their missed chance and they conceded two goals in the space of two minutes as substitutes Ramos and Ramio scored to add to Nigeria's friendly misery.
The result means Nigeria have yet to win any of their last 14 friendlies.
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A first-half brace from Bruno Fernandes and two quick second-half goals from Goncalo Ramos and Joao Mario saw Nigeria fall 4-0 to Portugal in the World Cup in a international friendly at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday, The PUNCH reports.
The Seleção das Quinas, as the Portuguese national team is called, were without Cristiano Ronaldo but still had enough firepower to humiliate the Super Eagles in front of the 50,000 spectators before traveling to Qatar for the World Cup which starts on Sunday.
Portugal kicked off the game and immediately began to show their superiority by dictating the pace of the game.
Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix should have given the Europeans the lead in the first five minutes following a fine pass from Manchester United Bruno Fernandes but the striker made a mistake and didn't could not connect with the ball giving the Eagles defense the opportunity to clear the ball.
Two minutes later, Fernandes nearly scored the goal for Portugal but his shot missed the target by inches despite Francis Uzoho being pinned down.
One minute later, Portugal's pressure paid off as the Manchester United midfielder opened the scoring to put the 2016 European champions ahead just nine minutes after the start. beginning of the meeting.
Diogo Dalot made a nice run down the right flank and threw a pass to his club teammate who coolly sent the ball into an empty net.
Nigeria started to enter the game after falling behind less than 10 minutes into the game. Ajax's Calvin Bassey dribbled past three defenders but the chance was wasted without a team-mate to give the final pass to.
Portugal continued to torment the Eagles defense and came close to scoring the second goal of the night after just 14 minutes with Uzoho beaten by a looped shot from Otavio.
Felix thought he had scored his first and Portugal's second goal after a fine shot that narrowly missed the target.
Nigeria's best chance of the match came in the 24th minute after a fine solo run from Joe Aribo, who sped up the midfield and threw a pass to Alex Iwobi but the final pass from the Everton player was blocked by Ruben Dias for Nigeria's first corner.
The three-time African champions were almost punished for the resulting corner as Felix was released for a counterattack but Bright Osayi-Samuel's timely intervention forced the 23-year-old's shot into the corner .
Portugal continued to put more pressure on Jose Peseiro's side and were rewarded after Osayi-Samuel was judged for handling the ball in the penalty with the Cypriot referee , Chrysovalantis Theodorou, pointing to the penalty spot.
Fernandes converted from the spot sending Uzoho the wrong way to score two goals for Portugal.
The midfielder came close to scoring a hat trick but was unable to send the ball into an empty net after rounding the Nigerian keeper.
Portugal took a good goal advantage in the break as Theodorou ended the first half.
As the second half was about to begin, Peseiro brought in duo Samuel Chukwueze and Frank Onyeka for Ademola Lookman and Wilfred Ndidi respectively.
Fernandes would not get the chance to score his hat trick as coach Fernando Santos replaced him for Vitinha while Dias and Bernardo Silva were also replaced by Raphael Guerreiro and Joao Mario .
The Eagles' performance in the second half improved from their lackluster performance in the first 45 minutes as they were able to chain a few passes together and control the game better.
After an improved second-half performance, Nigeria had the opportunity to cut the deficit after Osayi-Samuel was brought down in the box for a penalty but Emmanuel Dennis failed to score from the spot when his shot was saved by Rui Patricio.
The Eagles had to pay for their missed chance and they conceded two goals in the space of two minutes as substitutes Ramos and Ramio scored to add to Nigeria's friendly misery.
The result means Nigeria have yet to win any of their last 14 friendlies.
Please share this story:
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