The Super Eagles of Nigeria suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Portugal<\/a> in an international friendly match on Wednesday,\u00a0Soccernet.ng<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n Akor Adams had restored parity after Pedro Neto gave Portugal the lead in the first half, but Francisco Conceicao scored a second half winner to seal the win for the European side.<\/p>\n Portugal rounded off their preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where they will face the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uzbekistan, and Colombia in the group stage.<\/p>\n Nigeria, meanwhile, failed to qualify for the tournament after losing to DR Congo in the CAF playoff final, marking their\u00a0second consecutive absence from the\u00a0tournament.<\/p>\n Super Eagles head\u00a0coach Eric Chelle made\u00a0five\u00a0changes<\/a> to the side that\u00a0drew 2-2 with Poland in their previous outing<\/u><\/a>. Alex Iwobi\u00a0came into the lineup for\u00a0his 100th appearance, joining an exclusive group of Nigerian internationals\u00a0to have reached the century mark, while Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru were also handed starts\u00a0and Christian Akpan made his debut.<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0Igoh Ogbu was ruled out through injury, while Emmanuel Fernandez, Terem Moffi,\u00a0Abdullahi Bewene\u00a0and Frank Onyeka began the match on the bench.<\/p>\n Cristiano Ronaldo, playing against Nigeria for the first time in his illustrious career,\u00a0had\u00a0the game’s first attempt, but his effort\u00a0was over the crossbar.\u00a0The Al Nassr forward should have given Portugal the lead moments later, only to shoot wide after excellent work from Nelson Semedo down the right flank.<\/p>\n Nigeria responded with a chance of their own as Akor Adams squandered a good opportunity to open the scoring in an entertaining end-to-end contest.<\/p>\n The 2016 European champions eventually broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. A long ball into the penalty area found Diogo Dalot, who cut the ball back for Pedro Neto to control before calmly slotting past Maduka Okoye.\u00a0The Udinese goalkeeper was called into action shortly afterwards, producing a brilliant save to deny Bruno Fernandes as Portugal intensified the pressure.<\/p>\n However, the Super Eagles drew level in the 37th minute through Adams. The striker finished\u00a0brilliantly\u00a0through the goalkeeper’s legs to score his sixth international goal and\u00a0level the scoreline, as the\u00a0first half ended 1-1.<\/p>\n Portugal head coach Roberto Mart\u00ednez made several changes at half-time, and one of his substitutes, Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix, nearly restored parity, but his effort was saved\u00a0by Maduka Okoye after finding space inside the box.<\/p>\n Moments later, F\u00e9lix came close again\u00a0and his\u00a0powerful strike beat Okoye but crashed against the crossbar, with replays showing the ball had not completely crossed the line.<\/p>\n Portugal eventually found the breakthrough in the 75th minute when another substitute, Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, curled a superb effort into the bottom corner to put his side ahead.<\/p>\n Bewene, who had come on earlier produced a brilliant challenge to deny the impressive Felix, before Samu was denied by another good stop from Okoye.<\/p>\n The victory<\/u><\/a>\u00a0ensured Portugal maintained their perfect record against Nigeria, having also recorded a commanding 4-0 win when the two nations last met in 2022.<\/p>\n The Super Eagles will return to action in September, when the qualifying campaign for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations tournament will commence.<\/p>\n![\"Soccer](\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/leGBFvK5cwd03v3tDRVvnsgeJEY=\/4124x2751\/smart\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2026%2F06%2F5A39EF68-8224-404D-AF25-6DBA0B81BA02.jpeg\")
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Soccer Conceicao seals win for Portugal<\/h2>\n
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Soccer What next for Nigeria?<\/h2>\n