…Uzoho Fumbles Again.
Nigeria’s Goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho, has proven to be the Achilles heel of the Super Eagles of Nigeria as the team struggled to beat lowly rated 10 -man Mambas of Mozambique 3-2 in an international friendly match played at the Estadio Municipal de Albuleira in Portugal on Monday.
Uzoho whose blunder forced the Eagles to concede a 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday at the same venue groped on the turf like a blind cow as Sporting Lisbon Forward, Geny Cipriano Catamo beat him terribly to score the curtain raiser in the 6th minute after collecting a thorough pass from Witi from the right flank of play. It was a wonder Uzoho was not substituted in the match, he should not have played the second half.
Nice of France player, Terem Moffi helped Nigeria to get an equalizer in the 19th minute of play to record his first ever goal for the Super Eagles only for Oyinbo Obodo boy, Dele Bashiru to brilliantly locate Brentford of Britain’s Frank Onyeka who scored the second goal for Nigeria in the 30th minute.
South Africa based Kaiser Chief Emilson Dove who plays more like a Rugby player saw red in the 38th minute but Nigeria failed to take advantage of the number of minus one for Mozambique.
Lucrative winger, Moses Simon called ‘Daddy’ by players scored the 3rd goal from the penalty spot in the 45+3rd minute just before the break.
Mozambique’s utility player roved into Nigeria’s vital area and found Luparens FC striker, Faisal Bangal who slotted easily the second goal for Mozambique in the 55th minute and Nigeria won 3-2.
Nigeria had 61-39 ball possession; 9-3 shots at goal with 6-3 shots on target and a fantastic but wasted 10-1 corner kicks showing that it is not Eldorado for the Super Eagles to lift the African Cup of Nations trophy in Ivory Coast next January after this drab game with lowly rated Mozambique.
Two major Nigerian players were missing in action against Mozambique.
Senior Man, Kelechi Iheanacho had to leave camp to attend to urgent family matters while Balon D’or hopeful, Victor Osimhen left camp because of the groin injury sustained against the Saudi Arabia team and had to fly to Napoli for treatment which has raised alarm of him possibly missing the African Cup of Nations again in January.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Mambas of Mozambique met four times.
The Mozambicans almost derailed the world cup qualification of Nigeria to South Africa 2010 in 2009 when on 29th March 2009 the Mambas played goalless with Nigeria at home but the second leg in Abuja on 11th October 2009 saw Nigeria fly away by a lone goal.
Nigeria pecked the Mambas 3-0 in an AFCON match played 20th January 2010 but after playing 2-2 at half time on 15th October 2014, the Eagles spanked Mozambique 4-2 at full time in another match.
The COSAFA nation ranked 113 in the world was last Friday forced to 1-1 draw by Angola in Portugal. The Mambas had a goalless first half and Sporting Lisbon Forward, Geny Catamo scored in 70th minute while Gelson Dala equalized for Angola in the 85th minute.
On the 10th of July 2023 Mozambique lost 0-1 to Lesotho; She won 1-0 against Mauritius on 12th July 2023 and had beaten Benin Republic 3-2 in an AFCON encounter on 9th September 2023.
Mozambique had come in ‘shine shine bobo’ manner with their biggest win 6-1 over Lesotho on 10th August 1980 but their greatest loss was 6-0 to Zimbabwe at Salisbury in Zimbabwe on 20th April 1980.
The records of Mozambique in African football are nothing to be compared to that of Nigeria. The team has never been to the world cup. They appeared at the African Cup of Nations AFCON party four times in 1986, 1996, 1998 and 2010 losing at the group stages each time. Whereas they were at their regional COSAFA Championships 19 times, never won it but came out as Runners up twice in 2008 and 2019.
Mozambique will play the last world cup qualifier in Group G along with Botswana and Angola who are from their region.
Nigeria lost focus with an unsteady Goalkeeper in Uzoho last Friday when Saudi Arabia earned their second draw of 2-2 against her in Portugal. Nigeria had walloped Sao Tome 6-0 in an AFCON qualifier on 10th September 2023 after drubbing the country 10-0 on their backyard for Nigeria’s highest win ever.
Nigeria on 18th June 2023 beat Sierra Leone 3-2; piped Guinea Bissau 1-0 on 27th March 2023 after Nigeria lost to the same Guinea Bissau 0-1 on 24th March 2023 in Nigeria.
Ranked 40 in the world compared to 113 of Mozambique, Nigeria had appeared at the world cup six times reaching the Round of 16 thrice in 1994, 1998 and 2014. Nigeria had also been to the AFCON party 20 times but was thrice African Champions in 1980, 1994 and 2013.
Nigeria has the hurdles to the road of the next world cup in Group C with Benin Republic; Lesotho; Rwanda and South Africa. Soccer pundits believe that except the unforeseen happens, no team can stop Nigeria from their 7th appearance at the world cup.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
#NFF #CAF #MOZAMBIQUEFF #COSAFA.
