Super Eagles of Nigeria arrived in Cameroon on Thursday and with only one training session there in about 24hrs, the team played a high-class friendly in Cameroon that ended in a 2-0 for the team.
Nigeria faced top Cameroonian league side Coton Sports, with 15 league titles to their credit and over 6 cup titles, making them the dominant force in Cameroon, in a friendly game with the Super Eagles fielding two different complete sets of teams in both halves and scoring a goal each with captain Ahmed Musa scoring in the first half and Samuel Chukwueze scoring in the second.
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Speaking to NFF Tv after the game, coach Austin Eguavon reflected on the game, stating the challenges of coping with the weather, fear of injury, and need for improvement in front of goals for the Nigerian team.
”Impressive! We played two sets of teams -the first half was 11 players and the second half with another 11 players just to see how they can fare and cope with the weather condition. I can tell you we struggle a little bit with the weather, but in terms of ball possession and movement; I think we are very impressive and it’s a very good thing for us,” he said.
“Super Eagles did very well, it’s a little bit difficult to compare the two teams now, in the first half, we missed a couple of chances; scored a goal and in the second half, scored a goal and missed a couple of chances. It’s a practice Match and nobody actually wants to play with the full force we try to play safe a little bit- but I think we are impressed with everybody that came in”.
“Yes! we did but at some point, we didn’t just because of fatigue, the ball movement was a bit faster which we required and they are doing that -but as the game progressed, you could see fatigue actually setting in; so whenever they recuperate you always see them going out there and do exactly what we wanted them to do.”
“In front of goals we are too few- that’s something we have to work on, crosses are coming well, ball possession are good, playing to the side which is our strength is very good but arriving the box with fewer players is not too good and that’s what we are going to work on in the next few days,” he concluded.
The AFCON kicks off on Sunday, 9th of January with Nigeria set to face the Pharaohs of Egypt in her first game on Tuesday, 11th of January.
