Osimhen or Dessers: Which striker should Peseiro start for Nigeria against Sierra Leone?

Cyriel Dessers may have suffered late-season heartbreak with Feyenoord, losing the Europa Conference League final against Roma, but has had a rather fulfilling time with Nigeria in the last week.

Ignored for the majority of Gernot Rohr’s tenure and Augustine Eguavoen’s short-lived spell, the Genk frontman was part of the mishmash group invited for friendly games against Mexico and Ecuador last week.

In fairness, this was not a complete success, although it was not without some encouraging signs. The 27-year-old levelled from a Calvin Bassey cross after half-time in the clash with El Trionly to be undone by William Troost-Ekong’s own goal moments after his headed equaliser.

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Nigeria lost that game 2-1 but the second half was rather encouraging for the Super Eagles. A handful of days after, following a few more training sessions under Jose Peseiro, the three-time African champions squared up with Ecuador but Dessers’ finishing and decision-making let him down.

Played through by Alex Iwobi following the South American nation’s goal, the centre-forward’s strike could not beat Alexander Dominguez and the shot-stopper read his intention to dribble past him after the break.

Despite pressing with intent and purpose in the encounter, Dessers could not prevent Nigeria from another defeat and the absence of a killer instinct was a black mark on an otherwise heartening couple of games for the frontman.

Thus, Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Sierra Leone raises an important question with Victor Osimhen back in the squad.

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The Napoli marksman is Nigeria’s number nine and attacking spearhead, ending joint-top scorer in Afcon qualifying last time out with five goals along with Patson Daka, only to miss the finals in Cameroon.

Indeed, the popular choice will be reinstating the former Lille striker at Dessers’ expense, but that remains to be seen given the Genk man has had a head start under Peseiro.

The Portuguese trainer stressed the need to build relationships in the side following the defeat by Ecuador, seeing the merits of having more time on the training ground.

“Before the game against Mexico, we trained just two times, and some players even trained only once, and some players joined after that game,” Peseiro stated on Friday. “I think by the time the players have trained up to four times together, they will improve.”

This gives Dessers a slight edge if the new man at the helm is left with an either-or situation for Thursday’s meeting with the Lone Stars.

On the other hand, the fact the erstwhile Sporting Braga boss has opted for two up in his opening pair of games could see the returning Osimhen played in tandem with last year’s Conference League’s top scorer.

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The aforementioned eventuality could be bad news for Terem Moffi who partnered Dessers in those two encounters. In a sense, it feels rather early to make these predictions, owing to the somewhat haphazard squad that was assembled last week, especially in the middle of the park.

With Peter Etebo and Frank Onyeka returning in midfield, there could be a change in formation altogether, thus precipitating the utilisation of one centre-forward.

Owing to the importance of the fixture, and the need to get off to a winning start which halts the Super Eagles’ ongoing five-game winless run, it will not be surprising to see Peseiro opt for Osimhen despite Dessers’ head start.