Ecuador managed to get rid of the difficult approach that he proposed this Thursday Nigeria and stayed with the 1-0 victory in the friendly with a view to the Qatar World Cup that they played in the American city of New Jersey.
The early goal from defender Pervis Estupiñán and the efforts of all the members of the South American cast were enough to prevail over the indomitable African team, which accumulated a second defeat during its visit to the United States, since on May 28 they lost 2-1 in Texas against Mexico.
After this Thursday’s game, Ecuador will face Mexico on Sunday and will close this cycle of preparation on US soil against Cape Verde on June 11.
While Ecuador came out with an offensive proposal, with a great physical deployment of its midfielders and extreme defenses to try to have a numerical superiority in the opposite zone, Nigeria tried to populate its court with defenses and midfielders with the interest of leaving its rival without spaces.
Ecuador took advantage of a free kick play and went ahead with a header from Estupiñán, after a precise cross from attacker Ángel Mena, 3 minutes into the game.
Nigeria did not despair and kept their game proposal, loosening their attackers a little more who tried to take advantage of Alex Iwobi’s ease in throwing passes, while Terem Moffi and Cyriel Dessers lost their duels against goalkeeper Alexander Domínguez.
The Green Eagles little by little began to dominate the actions, leading the Tri to take refuge in their own area and defend the advantage achieved at the start of the match.
Nigeria returned to the second half looking for an equalizer, but without complete clarity in their attack. A poor return of the ball by attacker Leonardo Campana allowed a Nigerian counterattack, but Emmanuel Dennis finished on goal.
Domínguez once again won heads-up against striker Dessers, in another deep attack by the African side. The pressure from Nigeria served to prevent the South Americans from having control of the ball.
Jeremy Sarmiento put together a great attack, the opposing defenders were unable to control it, enabled Estupiñán, but the Villarreal man wasted the opportunity with a shot over the goal.
Castillo and Sarmiento wove a quick action that ended with a shot by the second of them half blocked by the goalkeeper Uzoho, and that Estrada finished again over the goal.
DATA SHEET
1 – Ecuador: Alexander Dominguez; Ángelo Preciado (m.46, Byron Castillo), Félix Torres, Piero Hincapié, Pervis Estupiñán; Jhegson Méndez, José Cifuentes (m.85, Dixon Arroyo), Moisés Caicedo (m.85, Xavier Arreaga), Ángel Mena (m.59, Gonzalo Plata); Enner Valencia (m.70, Jeremy Sarmiento) and Leonardo Campana (m.59, Michael Estrada).
0-Nigeria: Francis Uzoho; Chidozie Awaziem (d.46, Ola Aina), William Ekong, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey; Sani Kaita (m.46, Emmanuel Dennis), Joe Arribo, Alex Iwobi, Moses Simon; Teren Moffi (m.85, Victor Mbaoma) and Cyriel Dessers.
Goal: 1-0, Pervis Estupiñán (m. 3)
Referee: Ricardo Montero, from Costa Rica, admonished Alexander Domínguez.
Incidents: Friendly match played this Thursday at the Red Bull Arena, in the American city of New Jersey
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