3 lessons learnt from Nigeria's 2-1 win against Sierra Leone

The Super Eagles of Nigeria kicked off their AFCON 2023 qualifying campaign with a 2-1 win at home to Sierra Leone.

The game was new boss, Jose Peseiro's first competitive match in charge of the Super Eagles having previously led Nigeria to two friendly game defeats against Mexico and Ecuador.

Nigeria's road to Ivory Coast in 2023 kicked off with a much-needed win in Group A of the qualifying phase, here are three lessons learnt from the game.

If his first three games as Super Eagles handler have taught us one thing, it is that Jose Peseiro is not afraid to experiment and take risks tactically.

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He started this game against Sierra Leone with an attacking 4-4-2 formation without playing any natural central or defensive midfielders to shield the defence.

Two attack-minded players in Joe Aribo and Alex Iwobi started in that central midfield role for the Super Eagles which made the Nigerians susceptible to Sierra Leone's blistering counterattacks.

And although the top-heavy formation gave Nigeria more offensive impetus, Peseiro brought on Oghenekaro Etebo in place of Sadiq Umar at halftime to restore balance to the midfield and provide some sort of protection for the vulnerable defence.

Speaking of vulnerable defence, the centre-backs, William Troost-Ekong and Semi Ajayi were consistently the weakest links for the Super Eagles throughout the game.

The pair delivered displays worthy of the tag "chuckle brothers" and the fast Sierra Leonean forwards didn't hesitate to take advantage whenever they could.

Troost-Ekong was beaten way too easily by Musa Noah Kamara in a one-on-one situation while Ajayi lacked awareness and appeared to be strolling back on a counterattack as Jonathan Morsay connected with the cross to head Sierra Leone in front. 

Ajayi gaffed with an air kick in the 22nd minute but was lucky the goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho was alert to clean up his mess.

Semi Ajayi continued to play poorly and almost gave away an equaliser in the second half as Amadou Bakayoko stole ahead of him from an unlikely angle to poke the ball past Uzoho but the ball hit the side netting.

Captain Troost-Ekong would eventually get stretchered off in the 80th minute with a nasty injury which ended his involvement in the game.

For all of Sierra Leone's offensive impetus, the biggest threat to the Super Eagles in this game turned out to be the groundsman or whoever is responsible for the state of the pitch at the MKO Abiola Stadium in the Abuja.

To put it mildly, this country has corn fields with a more conducive surface for football than the pitch on which Nigeria defeated Sierra Leone.

A patchy-looking, rough surface that impedes smooth movement and ball progression, the pitch rather ironically but accurately mirrors the state of the nation.

Perhaps Nigeria could have worn by more goals had they played on an actual football pitch, a 54th-minute miss by Samuel Chukwueze is a good example of how the surface affected the result.