Nigeria won a hard-fought 3-2 friendly game against Mozambique on Monday at the Estadio Municipal De Albufeira Portimao in Portugal, ending a run of 16 games without a win.
Jose Peseiro made nine changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Saudi Arabia on Friday, with just Francis Uzoho and Bruno Onyemaechi remaining with the Portuguese coach, while Jordan Torunarigha and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru made their debuts.
Peseiro used Bright Osayi-Samuel, Torunarigha, Kenneth Omeruo, and Onyemaechi in defense.
The Portuguese used a new midfield combination of Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika, and Joe Aribo, while Dele-Bashiru and Moses Simon played from the flanks, with Terem Moffi spearheading the assault.
The Eagles had the stronger start and had a chance as early as the fifth minute, but Moffi's well-taken shot was thwarted for a corner kick by Mambas goalkeeper Hernani Siluane.
Mozambique took the lead against the odds in the seventh minute after a great counterattack, with Geny Catamo coolly putting the ball past Francis Uzoho, ingot for the Eagles.
Uzoho was caught off guard, leaving Catamo with the simple task of putting the ball in the net while the goalkeeper crawled.
After conceding, it took the Eagles 10 minutes to respond, with Moffi shooting yet another shot that Siluane stopped.
With 18 minutes remaining, Siluane would be unable to prevent Moffi on the third attempt, after the striker pounced on an early shot from Onyeka that the keeper spilled into the path of the Nice striker.
Two minutes after pulling level, Nigeria almost seized the lead, but Onyeka was denied by the excellent Siluane, who made another wonderful save to deny the midfielder his first international goal after a great team build-up.
The first half was a shooting practice for Onyeka, who launched another goal-bound shot from the edge of the box, forcing another save from Mozambique's most active player of the game, Siluane.
Onyeka, though, finally outwitted the Mambas goalkeeper in the 29th minute to score his first goal for Nigeria after 13 appearances.
Mozambique was down to 10 men with seven minutes remaining in the first half after Edmilson Dove was given a straight red for bringing down Aribo, who was through on goal.
Simon converted a penalty awarded for a handball in the box with just a few seconds remaining in the first half to give the Eagles a bigger lead.
Peseiro's men, while having a larger edge in numbers, were unable to increase their total; instead, the Mambas scored to close the gap.
With only their second shot on goal, Faisal Bangal scored Mozambique's second goal in the 55th minute.
Peseiro attempted a number of adjustments following the goal, but the Mambas maintained their composure to preserve the score at 3-2.
A goal by Sadiq Umar was disallowed in the 70th minute for a foul on the goalkeeper.
