Portugal Coach Praises Super Eagles Ahead of Friendly

Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has spoken highly of the Super Eagles and their coach, Eric Chelle, ahead of their friendly match at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria on Wednesday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Nigeria friendly will serve as Portugal’s final tune-up game before they depart for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, while the Super Eagles will use the match as a yardstick to assess their progress under Chelle.

Unlike Portugal, Nigeria will not be playing at this year’s World Cup, having missed out on a second consecutive edition.

The last time both teams met, in November 2022, Portugal defeated Nigeria 4–0 in a World Cup warm-up game. However, Martinez, who said he was unaware of that result, expects a much tougher contest this time.

“In terms of the forward players of Nigeria, they are very helpful for us to defend as a team,” Martinez said during the pre-match press conference.

“Nigeria are very competitive. I enjoyed their last friendly against Poland and I love the ideas of the coach. I can see players like Lookman and Osimhen are not here and they get replaced by players with a high level of performance.

“I expect a competitive game, real quality players with a lot of experience — Bassey, Iwobi, players with a lot of experience that I know so well.”

Before kick-off, Nigeria will honour midfielder Alex Iwobi as he makes his 100th senior appearance for the national team.

Meanwhile, Portugal are in Group K of the World Cup, where they will face DR Congo, Uzbekistan and Colombia.

The Selecao were beaten by Morocco in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup in Qatar and are still in search of their first-ever world title.