Four days after Nigeria laboured to a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia, Mali put the same opponents to the sword, beating the Asian powerhouse 3-1 in an international friendly at the Estádio Municipal de Portimão, Soccernet.ng reports.
At the same venue on Friday, the Super Eagles were forced to a thrilling draw as Mohamed Kanno’s deflected free-kick in the tenth minute of stoppage time earned Saudi Arabia a share of the spoils.
Nigeria were favourites to claim their first win over the Saudi Arabians, but they conceded the first goal on the hour-mark after Salman Al Faraj’s ambitious free-kick managed to evade goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.
The Super Eagles turned the tie around in eight minutes as they equalised through Abdulelah Al Amri’s own goal before Kelechi Iheanacho’s fierce drive handed the advantage to the former African champions.
When a win seemed secured in the bag, Kanno came to Saudi Arabia’s rescue with one of the last kicks of the game.
But against Mali, the Green Falcons were completely outclassed.
Mali, on a three-game winning streak, were looking for their fourth victim, having defeated Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda in recent times.
Les Aigles wasted little time breaking through Saudi Arabia’s defence as Moussa Doumbia smashed home the opener in the 14th minute.
Real Sociedad forward Hamari Traore doubled the advantage for Mali just before halftime as the West Africans looked comfortable at the break.
Saudi Arabia threatened a comeback when Salem Al Dawsari reduced the deficit after the interval, but Auxerre’s Lassine Sinayoko broke free in the 70th minute to restore Mali’s two-goal advantage.
It is Mali’s first win over Saudi Arabia, as their first meeting in 2019 ended in a 1-1 draw.
It would be recalled that Nigeria, after managing a 2-2 draw with Saudi Arabia, defeated ten-man Mozambique 3-2 in another friendly match in Portugal on Monday.
The Super Eagles will return to action in November when they square up against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the opening rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.
This post was last modified on October 18, 2023 6:33 am
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It's amazing to be here with everyone; I've gained a lot of knowledge from what you've shared, and I'd like to express my gratitude; the information and expertise shared here has been quite beneficial to me.
And Uzoho and Pesseiro with Austin want to reinforce failure and disappointed: BACK TO SENDER IN KESUS NAME.
I think we should look for a re placement for ozoho before the Nations cup and make him the second goalkeeper of the team.He is good but he is just loosing some dorm of confidence at the moment.Let's not throw away the baby and and the bathh water.For now,he seem to be the best we can afford and then add a home based goalkeeper as 3rd goal keeper.Remember,Sunday MBA help Nigeria win the last 2013 Afcon by his divisive goal against Ivory coast and Burkina Faso.we have what it takes to win the next Afcon if we out our house in order.Best wishes our dear Super Eagles.Show Africa that we are really Super Eagles in the next Afcon.
I think we should look for a re placement for ozoho before the Nations cup and make him the second goalkeeper of the team.He is good but he is just loosing some form of confidence at the moment.Let's not throw away the baby and and the bath water.For now,he seems to be the best we can afford and then probably add a home based goalkeeper as 3rd goal keeper.Remember,Sunday MBA,a home based player if I,m no mistakening help Nigeria win the last 2013 Afcon by his divisive goal against Ivory coast and Burkina Faso.We have what it takes to win the next Afcon if we put our house in order.Best wishes our dear Super Eagles.Show Africa that we are really Super Eagles in the next Afcon.
Saudi Arabia team has improved based on the league inclusion of great player like CR7 and the rest of the stars right now, furthermore they have the cash to improving the sport
Thank you , I thought the same thing . Even though football is not mathematics, we struggled on that game now Mail comes and walks over Saudi. Cmon super eagles
Seriously speaking, if Nigeria is to win the next AFCON, we need a world class goalkeeper. The last one we won during Late Keshi's time, we had Vincent Enyama in goal . We needed a dependable goalkeeper to complement our good players. It us not too late to draft one in now . Good luck in the tournament.
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