Mexico 2-1 Nigeria: Peseiro starts on a losing note with Super Eagles
The stand-in captain of the team, William Troost Ekong scored an own-goal which effectively handed victory to the Mexicans.
Jose Peseiro has lost his first match as Super Eagles coach following the 2-1 defeat suffered by the Nigeria national team early Sunday morning against Mexico at the AT & T Stadium in Dallas.
Santiago Gimenez gave Mexico the lead 12 minutes into the game and El Tri held on to that slim advantage all through the first 45 minutes.
Cyril Dessers fresh from his exploit in the UEFA Europa Conference League where he emerged as the top scorer pulled Nigeria level in the 54th minute.
The Feyenoord forward nodded in a well-taken cross by Calvin Bassey to make it 1-1.
However, almost immediately, Nigeria was on the back foot again as the stand-in captain of the team, William Troost Ekong scored an own-goal which effectively handed victory to the Mexicans.
With this development, Peseiro who is the first Portuguese coach for the Super Eagles also becomes the first coach in 28 years to lose his debut match for Nigeria national team.
No handler of the Super Eagles had lost a debut appearance since Amodu Shaibu led the team to a respectable 1-0 loss to England at the old Wembley Stadium 28 years ago on 16 November 1994.
In fairness to Peseiro, he had no input in the original invitation of players and even at that, more than 10 players including captain Ahmed Musa all pulled out for varying reasons.
Peseiro will be hoping to redeem himself as the Super Eagles fly to New Jersey to confront Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison on Thursday, 2nd June.
