Super Eagles of Nigeria were defeated 4-0 early Sunday morning in their international friendly against Mexico at the 77,500- capacity LA Coliseum.
Two quick goals in the first half and two more in the second half saw Nigeria’s winless run in friendly games extended into eight games.
Nigeria’s last win in a friendly match was in March 2019 when they beat Egypt 1-0 with a first-minute goal by Paul Onuachu.
In what was the concluding tie in the 2021 MexTour Series, Hector Hererra gave Mexico the lead after poking in from his team’s first corner kick barely two minutes into the game.
Though Ibrahim Sanusi tried frantically to clear the ball off the line, he could not deny the North Americans their first goal of the game.
While the dust was yet to settle on the first, the fast-paced Mexicans came calling again; opening the Nigerian defence before Rogelio Funes Mori blasted home from close range to make it 2-0 for Mexico.
Though the fast tempo of the Mexicans was slowed down byNigeria’s first corner kick did not come until the 35th minute but they made little out of it.
That nonetheless, it wasn’t all Mexico in the first half as Nigeria had their own chance late on.
Iwuala had a chance to reduce the deficit late in the first half but his shot at the edge of the penalty box was well-blocked by the Mexicans.
The Enyimba star, who was the captain of the Nigeria team for the night, had another chance moments after but his indecision to shoot on time saw him losing possession.
That miss almost proved costly as Mexico were soon awarded a free-kick they almost scored from.
In the second half, the Mexico team came looking for early goals again.
RN