Nigeria’s recovery in the second half against Mexico is a momentum the team will ensure to build on when the Super Eagles face Ecuador, says team Captain William Troost-Ekong.
In Sunday’s friendly game, Nigeria lost 2-1 against Mexico, but El Tri played their opponents out of the park in the first half and it was a let down.
Jose Peseiro’s side rallied after the break and despite pulling one back, it was Ekong’s owngoal that gave the opponent the eventual win.
However, there were several other factors including the top quality of Mexico and the number of debutants in the Nigerian team that made the experience more of a learning curve.
Speaking ahead of Thursday’s game against Ecuador, the Stand-in Super Eagles captain expects that the lessons from the defeat to Mexico will be reflected.
“I think there’s a lot of positives that we can take from the game against Mexico,” Ekong insists in the pre-match Presser.
“Of course, this is the first time I’m actually playing against Mexico and I think besides the result, it was a great opportunity for us to play against a big team and in a big stadium.
“We have a lot of new players that are here for the first time; debutants, and it was a game of two halves and I think the first half, we all agree we should have done a lot better but we still tried to find our feet in the new system.”
The CB captained Nigeria at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and remains determined to guide the team through the qualifying rounds to the next edition.
Nigeria kick off it’s qualifiers against Sierra Leone on June 9th before taking on Sao Tome and Principe on the 13th.
With the team’s performance in the friendlies, Ekong said the Eagles will a much improved side before those “important” games.
“The second half, everything fell into place, we fared a lot better. There’s a lot of positives to take from that game and towards the AFCON qualifiers.
“Tomorrow’s (Thursday) game is going to be similar, we’re playing against a very good team again and we would try and use this opportunity to improve even more and be ready for our important games back in Africa.”
