Super Eagles were a much improved team in the game against Ecuador and only lost the encounter to poor marksmanship
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Super Eagles suffered the second loss under the new manager, Jose Peseiro after a narrow defeat to Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, United States
.The South Americans opened the scoring as early as the 3rd minute when Pervis Estupinan capitalised on poor defending by Chidozie Awaziem and Sani Faisal.
The Ecuadorian left full-back was poorly read while he lurked around the far post and latched on to a poorly defended in-swinger from a free-kick from Angel Mena.
Terem Moffi was controversially denied a penalty in the 13th minute as he appeared to be caught by the Ecuadorian goalkeeper in the penalty box.
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The La Tri almost doubled their advantage moments later but were denied the opportunity by a flying Francis Uzoho in goal.
Shortly after that, Alex Iwobi put Cyriel Dessers through on goal with a defence splitting pass but the attacker could only force a save from a distance.
Nigeria made changes as Emmanuel Dennis came in for the not too impressive Sani Faisal while Ola Aina replaced Chidozie Awaziem who also had a poor outing in the second half.
The Super Eagles continued to pile up pressure on the Ecuadorian defence in search of an equaliser as the impressive Iwobi and Bassey dominated the ball but poor marksmanship cost Nigeria on the day.
Bassey provided an assist for Emmanuel Dennis in the 57th minute with an inch-perfect cross at the far post but the Watford forward miscued the effort.
Cyriel Dessers, Moses Simon, and Semi Ajayi also got glorious opportunities to put Nigeria level and possibly win the match but they all missed their chances
However, despite the loss, it was a much improved performance compared to the 2-1 defeat by El-Tri of Mexico and the new coach will be encouraged going into the Nations Cup qualifiers.
The Super Eagles after the match will head to Abuja where they will prepare for the 2023 AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Principé.