*Chelle says purpose for the friendly achieved with new revelations
Duro Ikhazuagbe
A Super Eagles squad that paraded nine new players forced hosts Russia to a thrilling 3-3 draw in an international friendly match in Nizhny Novgorod on Tuesday evening.
In the absence of key players like Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, WIlfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, Ola Aina and a host of others, Head Coach, Eric Chelle was forced to hand debut to rookie players who distinguished themselves in the friendly.
Only six players in the starting XI, viz Moses Simon, Kelechi Iheanacho, Benjamin Fredricks, Emmanuel Fernandez, Abdullahi Bewene, and Aderemi Adeoye had previously featured for the three-time African champions.
Returnee forward, ‘Senior Man’ Iheanacho, underlined his top form in Turkey when he opened scoring for Super Eagles after just 10 minutes.
His strike from outside the box sneaked in through the near post for the opener.
The former Leicester City frontman, received a precise pass on the edge of the penalty area from Abdullahi Bewene, before uncharacteristically unleashed a thunderous left-footed drive into the top corner, notching his 15th international goal in Nigerian colours.
However, despite controlling early possession, defensive lapses by the new Super Eagles defenders allowed Russia back into the match.
The hosts levelled after breaking down the Nigerian rear-guard to beat debutant goalkeeper Samuel James, before taking a 2-1 lead into the interval.
The Russians benefitted from a defensive let-off on the stroke of halftime.
The Eastern Europeans however extended their advantage to 3-1 nine minutes into the second period, prompting Coach Chelle to introduce fresh legs from the bench. The substitutions injected immediate urgency into Nigeria’s attack.
Substitute Umar Abdullahi came close to pulling one back in the 73rd minute after intercepting high up the pitch following strong work from Isaac James. Five minutes later, 19-year-old Benfica youngster Peter Edokpolor made an instant impact on his debut off the bench.
The youngster drove aggressively through the Russian defence before firing an unstoppable strike past the goalkeeper in the 78th minute to make it 3-2.
With momentum firmly behind the Super Eagles, Chelle introduced Vince Osuji for Chibuzo Nwoko in the 83rd minute to maintain central balance as Nigeria pushed forward. The relentless pressure paid off in the fourth minute of added time.
Emmanuel Fernandez initiated a swift counter-attack with a header from the back, finding Abdullahi, who squared intelligently for fellow substitute Akor Adams to turn home a 94th-minute equaliser.
In all, nine players made their Super Eagles debut on Tuesday night in Russia.
Speaking at the post match last night, Chelle described the experience in Russia as good for how wards.
He said that he was able to achieve the objective of the friendly to look at some of the players for possible infusion into his Super Eagles for the AFCON 2027 qualifiers and the the LA 2028 Under-23 team.
“We have two objectives for coming here (Russia). The vision is to look at the players for the AFCON 2027 qualifiers and the Olympic Games.
“So, like I said in press conference before the match, we had a lot of problems because some of the (European) clubs refused to release their players to us for this friendly. That was why we brought so many players that played their first games for Nigeria today. For me, I was happy because Russia is not a small football country. We are happy with how the match turned out for us to see new players, some good enough for the senior national team.”