Nigerian players have set in motion impressive signals of a bright season ahead of them, as two of the lads hit the target this week and others keep netting goals one by the dozen in preparation games with their respective clubs across Europe.
Such is the case with Cyriel Dessers at Racing Genk of Belgium and Victor Moses at Spartak Moscow of Russia, as both stars of varying generations in the Nigerian national team have hit the ground running ahead of the incoming campaign.
While Moses has scored in four straight matches, following his recent signing of a full contract at Spartak, where he spent last season on loan from Chelsea of England, Dessers set his pre-season spree in motion with beauty for Genk.
Dessers showed that he s ready and determined to overshadow last season’s top scorer, Paul Ebere Onuachu, who was also in action for Genk as they were held to a 1-1 draw by AZ Alkmaar of Netherlands.
The game came ahead of this weekend’s Belgium Super Cup against David Chidozie Okereke’s Club Brugge, and Dessers opened the scoring for Genk 15 minutes from time when he got to the end of a long ball before he rounded AZ’s goalkeeper to score.
Genk won the Belgium Cup last season and will on Saturday do battle with league champions, Club Brugge, for the prestigious Belgium Super Cup, with Dessers hoping to continue his scoring form, even as Onuachu continues being linked with a summer transfer elsewhere.
A similar feat was enacted by Moses, as he netted for his Moscow-based side in their 4-0 trouncing of Rubin Kazan during their second game of the Parimatch Premier Cup, which comes ahead of Spartak’s clash with Khimki in their final pre-season game on Sunday.
Moses’ goal on Wednesday kept up his remarkable surge in four consecutive games for Spartak, who he helped to victories over Sibenik, Sochi, and Rubin Kazan as well as a draw with NK Bravo; meaning he could jolly well have a blistering upcoming season with his team.
It will be his first full season since leaving Chelsea, who had loaned him repeatedly to Liverpool, West ham United and the Stoke City of England as well as Fenerbahce of Turkey and Inter Milan of Italy, before getting his freedom in Moscow.
He will now hope to play a key role play for The Red & Whites in the new season, as they aim to snatch the Russian Premier League title from Zenit Saint Petersburg, with early strong signs emerging that the former Crystal Palace and Wigan Athletic of England icon will stand up to be counted.
That sign was buttressed in midweek, as Moses sent Kazan’s goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot to open the scoring with a tenth-minute penalty, after which Aleksandr Sobolev, Roman Zobnin, and Georgiy Dzhikiya also scored in the space of seven second-half minutes for Spartak’s win.
