By John Essien
Former European Champions Portugal, will play a friendly game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Reports making the rounds suggest that the two federations, the Portuguese Football Federation and Nigeria Football Federation are currently in talks over the date and venue for the friendly game.
Portugal who are drawn in Group H alongside Ghana, Uruguay, and South Korea, will play the friendly in preparation for their first Group game of the tournament.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal start their 2022 World Cup campaign against the Black Stars of Ghana, therefore, a game against a similar nation like Nigeria will do the Portuguese a lot of good.
As for Nigeria, the game will also serve as an opportunity for Coach Jose Peseiro to access his players again ahead of AFCON qualifiers which have been moved from September to allow the continent’s five World Cup-bound teams the opportunity for better preparatory matches before the tournament in Qatar.
The date and venue of the friendly are yet to be agreed upon as both nations’ federations continue to hold talks.
Nigeria and Portugal have never clashed at senior level, but both countries met three times at the U-20 World Cup with Portugal winning all three meetings (twice in 1989 and 2013).
