The Super Eagles are facing Mozambique on Monday and will be without their strikers Kelechi Iheanacho and Victor Osimhen.
Iheanacho scored a spectacular second goal in the Eagles’ 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia on Friday, but he left the camp to attend to personal issues, while Osimhen is out due to injury.
Despite this setback, Coach Jose Peseiro is confident that his clutch of forwards, including Terem Moffi, Victor Boniface, Samuel Chukwueze, Sadiq Umar, and Moses Simon, can help Nigeria win the game against Mozambique. Peseiro hopes that Alex Iwobi will also play a crucial role as a playmaker by supplying ammunition to his forwards.
“We will miss Kelechi and Victor, but we have other good players who can make Nigeria proud. I look at the bench and see players who can step up and take their chances.”
The clash with Mozambique is Nigeria’s last gathering before the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe next month. The Super Eagles will host the Crocodiles of Lesotho and then travel to play Zimbabwe’s Warriors away, all within a few days in November.
Defenders Kenneth Omeruo, Jordan Torunarigha, and Chidozie Awaziem, and midfielders Frank Onyeka, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, and Raphael Onyedika did not play against Saudi Arabia, but they could prove to be Peseiro’s aces against Mozambique at the Estadio Municipal de Portimäo on Monday.
Nigeria and Mozambique have met four times at senior level, with the Super Eagles winning a friendly match in Maputo by a lone goal, before home-and-away 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. The first encounter in Maputo ended scoreless, but at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja in October 2009, Yusuf Ayila rescued an outbound ball that landed on the head of Victor Obinna Nsofor for the only goal of the match. The Eagles won 3-0 in Lubango during the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola to qualify for the tournament’s quarter-finals.