Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho’s stunning goal was cancelled out by Mohamed Kanno’s stoppage time free kick as the Super Eagles of Nigeria were held to a 2-2 draw by Saudi Arabia in their friendly encounter at the Estadio Municipal de Portimao in Portugal on Friday evening.
Iheanacho, who came off the bench for the Eagles, hit a beauty of a left-footed strike from the edge of the box to put Jose Peseiro’s men ahead in the 81st minute, but Al-Hilal’s midfielder Kanno had other ideas as his 100th minute free-kick beat Francis Uzoho after deflecting off Calvin Bassey.
FT in Portimao: Saudi Arabia 2-2 Nigeria #soarsupereagles #letsdoitagain pic.twitter.com/mNwnkI5fPJ
— ???????? Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) October 13, 2023
Peseiro fielded a very strong line-up from the start, with Alex Iwobi returning to the side and in-form Bayer Leverkusen forward Victor Boniface pairing up with Napoli’s marksman Victor Osimhen up front.
Although they had much of the possession and created the bulk of the chances in the first half, the Eagles failed to find the back of the net, with the Italy-based duo of Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze the major culprits in the first 45 minutes.
The second half started differently, with the experienced Roberto Mancini making a couple of changes to his Green Falcons side, bringing in the experienced Salman Al-Faraj along with Salem Al-Dawsari of Al-Hilal.
Al-Faraj broke the deadlock in the 60th minute as his cross-cum-shot freekick from way out was fumbled into the net by Uzoho, who was relatively untested until that point in the game.
Peseiro replied with changes of his own, bringing on Moses Simon, Iheanacho, and Bright Osayi-Samuel, and it immediately paid off, with Simon causing serious troubles on Nigeria’s left flank. His drive resulted in the Eagles equalizer as his low cross was deflected by Saudi defender Abdulelah Al-Amri into his own net for an own goal.
Simon was also involved in Nigeria’s second, as his short layoff was diverted into the path of Iheanacho, who struck it well past Mohammed Alowais and into the top corner.
With the Eagles running away with the win, up stepped Kanno, whose freekick deflected off Bassey and wrong-footed Uzoho to claim a draw for his side.
The stalemate continues the struggles for Peseiro’s men in friendly matches as they remain without a win in their last six friendlies.
Nigeria will face Mozambique next on Monday, October 16, at 4 p.m. (West African Time), while Saudi Arabia has another African team in Mali to battle next on Tuesday, October 17.
