Nigeria lost 2-1 to the Desert Foxes of Algeria in a not-so-entertaining affair in Oran on Tuesday night. Terem Moffi opened scoring inside 10 minutes before Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez levelled three minutes before halftime.

The match winner was grabbed just a minute after the hour mark by 26-year-old OGC Nice player Youcef Atal.

Nigeria have now failed to beat the North Africans in their last four attempts. The last time the Super Eagles got the better of Djamel Belmadi’s team was in 2016.

Here are some key points to note following the Super Eagles loss.

Goalkeeping department still a problem
The long search for a dependable, rock-solid and commanding goalkeeper for the Super Eagles continues. Neither Maduka Okoye nor Francis Uzoho has shown enough confidence to man the post for the three-time African champions.

Jose Peseiro needs to quickly find a solution to the team’s goalkeeping problems as it has persisted for too long.

For Maduka, a lot of fans are yet to forgive him for the loss against Tunisia in the round of 16 clash at the 2021 AFCON. He didn’t represent the country after then due to online ‘bullying by fans.

However, he didn’t redeem himself in glory when he made an unforgivable error in the team’s test game on Saturday. The Super Eagles played a 2-2 draw with the Algeria Team B but his horrendous outing didn’t help matters. No wonder he was dropped for the match on Tuesday.

Uzoho too was not excellent as he didn’t look assured enough for most of the match.

Iwobi still Nigeria’s best midfielder
Alex Iwobi showed the reason he remains Everton’s most important player this season. The 26-year-old, as usual, was all over the pitch. His runs, energy, penetration and versatility were on display once again.

He had scored in the test game on Saturday and was the most decent Nigerian player on the pitch, alongside Terem Moffi. He made a couple good passes into the final third but the forwards couldn’t do much with them. Iwobi was a major reason Algeria did not beat Nigeria more than 2-1...

https://newsroundtheclock.com/five-takeaways-from-super-eagles-2-1-defeat-to-algeria/