Nigeria matched up against Lesotho in the first game of the CAF World Cup Qualifiers on Thursday and we take a closer look at what we learned from the game.
The Super Eagles ended up having to settle for a point against Lesotho, after the game ended in a 1-1 stalemate and Jose Peseiro might be disappointed with the outcome.
It means two points dropped ahead of Sunday’s clash with Zimbabwe.
Struggles without Osimhen
Victor Osimhen has been sidelined due to injury after he picked up an injury in the last international break for Nigeria and his absence from the national side has been a huge blow for Peseiro.
Taiwo Awoniyi and Ademola Lookman came close to scoring against Lesotho but they failed to convert the chances, and the Nigerian faithful might feel that they would have won the game if the prolific Osimhen was leading the line.
Does Jose Peseiro know his strongest side?
Peseiro has somewhat come under scrutiny in recent times, as he has been chopping and changing his starting XI, which has seemingly not worked.
The Portuguese manager has plenty of talented players at his disposal, but this has evidently had a negative impact as he is yet to figure out his strongest starting side, which could be an issue come AFCON next year.
Lack of creativity of the Super Eagles
The Super Eagles typically opt for a flat 4-4-2 formation and it was Alex Iwobi and Frank Onyeka occupying the central midfield role against Lesotho, but they lacked creativity.
Iwobi is known for his work-rate while Onyeka is more of a holding midfielder, so there was a lack of service to the front men through midfield as they failed to create the amount of the chances that Peseiro would have hoped for against a significantly weaker opposition.
Question marks over Peseiro
There was a lot of excitement when the former Porto boss was introduced as Super Eagles manager, but there has been a lack of identity in the side since his introduction over a year ago.
If results do not start to change for Peseiro, then there might be some uncertainty regarding his future as manager of the Nigerian national side, especially ahead of AFCON next year.
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